Meet Kamala Harris' family, from Doug Emhoff to Meena Harris
Vice President Kamala Harris made history Wednesday by being the first woman, first Black American and first South Asian American to hold the office, but it was her family who stole the show at the inauguration.
From her husband, Doug Emhoff, ushering in the never-before-used title of second gentleman to her niece's partner, Nikolas Ajagu, being dubbed head of the "Department of Drip" for wearing Dior Air Jordan 1s to the inauguration, Harris' family made waves by her side.
If the past years on the campaign trail, during the election and on Inauguration Day have proven anything, it's that Harris' family will continue to be a notable and visible part of her life for her next four years in office. Here's a break down of who's who.
Doug Emhoff
Emhoff, 56, may be a second gentleman now, but he's had his own notable life and career.
He was an entertainment lawyer at international firm DLA Piper, but quit the law practice to take on the duties of second gentleman, flipping gender norms at a level the nation has never seen before.
Emhoff was born in Brooklyn, New York, and moved with his family to Southern California from New Jersey as a teenager. He graduated from California State University at Northridge in 1987 and attended the University of Southern California's Gould School of Law, where he got his law degree in 1990.
Emhoff met Harris in 2013 after a client of his and a friend of Harris' set them up on a blind date. They got married in 2014 in Santa Barbara.
Cole and Ella Emhoff
Emhoff has two children from a previous marriage to Kerstin Emhoff: Cole, 26, and Ella, 21.
Both Cole and Ella Emhoff are named after jazz legends Cole Porter and Ella Fitzgerald.
Harris' stepchildren were present on Inauguration Day – Ella Emhoff even caught social media's attention for her fashion choices on the historic day. It's no surprise some called her a "style icon," as she's currently studying at Parsons School of Design in New York.
A week after stunning at the inauguration, IMG Models signed Ella Emhoff, spokesperson for IMG Fashion GroupAnsleigh Scholtes told USA TODAY in an email.
Cole and Ella Emhoff also have a cute nickname for their stepmother: "Momala."
"To my brother and me, you’ll always be 'Momala,' the world’s greatest stepmom,” Ella Emhoff said in a video introducing Harris at the 2020 Democratic National Convention. “You’re a rock, not just for our dad, but for three generations of our big, blended family.”
Maya Harris
Maya Harris, 53, is Kamala Harris' younger sister and a lawyer and policy advocate.
This isn't Maya Harris' first political rodeo either. Before serving as her sister's senior adviser during her 2020 presidential campaign, Maya Harris was a senior adviser to Hillary Clinton when the former secretary of state was a presidential candidate in 2016.
Maya Harris graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and went on to get her law degree from Stanford University.
Stanford University is where she met husband Tony West, who is Uber's chief legal officer. The couple didn't start dating until a few years after a chance meeting via a game of hide-and-seek between West and Maya's then-4-year-old daughter, and the couple eventually got married in 1998.
Meena Harris
Meena Harris, 36, is the daughter of Maya Harris, and has been a visible member of her aunt's family on the campaign trail.
Meena Harris is a mother to daughters Amara, 4, and Leela, 2, whom she shares with her partner Nikolas Ajagu. (Ajagu made waves on Twitter for accessorizing his inauguration outfit with a pair of Dior Air Jordan 1 sneakers.)
Similar to her mother and aunt, Meena Harris has a high-powered career. She's CEO of Phenomenal, a lifestyle brand celebrating ambitious women, and has authored children's books "Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea" and "Ambitious Girl," which published a day before the inauguration.
"Ambitious Girl" was inspired by her aunt after the vice president was criticized for being too ambitious, Meena Harris told Oprah Magazine.
"What really stopped me in my tracks was that it was amplified by the media … as if being too ambitious was a valid critique and was worth paying attention to," Meena Harris said.
She's also a lawyer, and attended her mother's alma mater, Stanford University, for her undergraduate studies and finished law school at Harvard in 2012.
For Inauguration Day, Meena Harris dressed up daughters Amara and Leela in "special coats to look just like Auntie's." They sported animal print coats that resembled one Kamala Harris wore as a child.
Contributing: Jessica Guynn, Charisse Jones, Jeanine Santucci
PHOTOS AP, Getty Images and courtesy Donald Harris
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kamala Harris' family: Doug Emhoff, Meena Harris, who's who?
