.png)
4 weeks ago
9
Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepted the Democratic presidential nomination after a wave of speeches at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, one being from her sister - Maya Harris.
Maya, 57, is Kamala's younger sister who has stood throughout the presidential nominee's political career.
During her speech on Thursday night, Maya praised her sister for 'beating the odds' and creating optimism and 'joy throughout the nation.'
She is not only a loving sister but also mom to her 39-year-old daughter, Meena.
Maya Harris, 57, gave a powerful speech in support of her older sister Kamala Harris, and praised her for 'beating the odds' and creating 'joy throughout the nation'
Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepted the Democratic nomination during the final night of the DNC on Thursday
Kamala and Maya have been close since childhood, and both children have praised their mother Shyamala Gopalan Harris. Shyamala passed away of colon cancer in 2009
Who is Maya Harris?
Maya is Kamala's only sibling.
Their parents divorced when both were young.
Maya would visit her father during the weekends and summers following the divorce, according to Kamala's 2019 memoir.
She used her speech on Thursday night to praise their mother.
'She raised us to believe that we could be and do anything, and we believed her,' Maya said during her DNC speech.
'You see, Mommy understood the power and the possibility that come with knowing and showing who you truly are.'
Maya graduated from Westmount High School and gave birth to her daughter, Meena, when she was 17.
She later graduated from her mother and father's alma mater, University of California, Berkeley, and earned her law degree with honors from Stanford Law School.
What does Maya Harris do for work?
Maya earned her law degree from Stanford Law School, and became a civil litigator shortly after graduation
Maya has been a successful lawyer, policy advocate, speaker, and writer for nearly two decades since earning her college degrees.
She became a civil litigator and an adjunct professor at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, and Lincoln Law School of San Jose.
Lincoln requested Maya serve as its Dean and Chief Executive Officer when she was 29, making her one of youngest law school deans in the US, according to her website.
In her later years, she worked as an on-air political and legal analyst for MSNBC and has had work published by The Atlantic, Women's Health Magazine, and CNN.
Maya's political career skyrocketed after she became a senior advisor for Hillary Clinton during her 2016 presidential campaign and represented her for the Democratic Party platform.
Following this role, she served as Kamala's presidential primary campaign chairman in 2020 and was a 'national surrogate for the Biden-Harris ticket' during the general election.
Other job titles Maya held over the years include vice president of democracy, rights and justice of the Ford Foundation, Executive Director of the ACLU of Northern California, and licensed officiant.
Is Maya Harris married?
Maya met her husband Tony West at Stanford Law School after her daughter instigated a game of hide and seek. They have been married for 26 years
Maya has been married to her law school sweetheart, Tony West, 59, for 26 years.
The pair met on campus after Maya's then-four-year-old daughter from a previous relationship insisted Tony play a game of hide and seek, according to Stanford Lawyer in 2010.
However, the couple did not start dating until a few years after Meena introduced them.
'We waited for the most inconvenient time to actually get together - he was in DC, and I was in the Bay Area,' Maya told Stanford Lawyer.
'It's a family joke that Meena knew we should be together long before we did.'
Tony has advised Kamala on her political campaigns since 2003. He was also the general counsel of PepsiCo before going to Uber in 2017.
He also served under former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama in the Justice Department.
Who is Maya Harris' daughter?
Maya gave birth to her daughter Meena when she was 17. Meena has credited her mom, aunt, and grandmother for her hardworking success
Maya Harris sat with her husband Tony, Maya's daughter Meena and Meena's family at the DNC
Meena (center) with Ella Emhoff (right) and Helena Hudlin (left), Kamala's goddaughter, at the DNC
Like her mother, Meena Harris is a family-oriented woman who credits her mother, aunt, and grandmother for her success.
'Everything I do is because of my family, three awesome and strong women who dedicated themselves to making positive changes in the world,' Meena said in an interview with Marie Claire in 2020.
'I have the examples of my mom and aunt, who were public interest lawyers. I was taught the value of everyday activism and showing up by my grandma, who wasn't a public official but was a breast cancer researcher and would mentor students of color in her lab at UC Berkley,' she explained.
Meena eventually graduated from Stanford University in 2006 and received her Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 2012.
She became an attorney at Covington & Burling LLP in DC and was a Senior Policy Manager at Slack before working as the Head of Strategy and Leadership at Uber from 2017 to 2020.
Meena is now a married mother of two who founded Phenomenal Media and a National Women's Law Center board member.
English (US)