From helpless, sexualized damsel in distress to famous singer/Mayor of New Donk City. There's something genuinely endearing about how she turned her life around after being effectively replaced by Princess Peach in the main series. Plus, she even talks about how she fixed up the city after a unspecified massive disaster (talk about lore, lmao).
I wonder how Donkey Kong will factor into this. The city is named after him as well...