Kamala Harris: Five facts you didn't know about America's first female VP

Born in Oakland, California to an Indian mother and Afro-Jamaican father, Kamala Devi Harris is the first woman of color to have been elected as the United States’ vice president. Having ran alongside president-elect Joe Biden, during the early presidential primaries, the California Senator has made history as the first female, black and Asian-American vice-president.

Kamala, 56, is so many firsts: first woman to be vice president, first woman of color to be vice president, first woman of South Asian descent, first daughter of immigrants. She is the representation of so many promises finally fulfilled.

The longtime politician began her impressive career as district attorney of San Francisco, California, in 2004. She held the seat until 2011 and was the city’s first person of color to be elected district attorney. Harris worked her way up the ranks, serving as California’s attorney general from 2011 to 2017, taking over from Jerry Brown.

Here are the five interesting things to know about the first woman vice-president-elect:

She is the daughter of immigrants:

Hailing from India and Jamaica, Harris’s parents arrived in the United States in the early 1960s to pursue careers in academia. With her mother going on to become a cancer researcher at UC Berkeley and her father, an economics professor at Stanford University, Harris was raised in Berkeley, California, along with her younger sister Maya.

She’s well-versed in criminal justice

While professionally well versed in the criminal justice system, Harris has found herself on the receiving end of tough criticism, both during her run for Senate and later, for vice president. With reformers questioning her motives following her work as a prosecutor during the era of mass incarceration. Harris’s record addressing police violence and criminalization.

She has two stepchildren:

In August 2014, Kamala tied the knot with attorney Douglas Emhoff, who was previously married to Kerstin Emhoff from 1992 to 2008. The exes share two children, Cole and Ella, who affectionately call the V.P.-elect "Mom-ala."

She was close with Joe Biden's late son, Beau:

Before she was selected as Biden's running mate ahead of the 2020 election, Kamala was already close with the former VP's family. During her time as California's attorney general, she formed a bond with Beau Biden, who held the same position in Delaware at the time.

The pair remained close friends through the years, and after his 2015 death, Kamala attended Beau's memorial service. "I feel fortunate to have known Beau as a friend and to have had the opportunity to work closely with him as Attorneys General. My heart and prayers go out to his family, which he loved so passionately," she wrote via Instagram at the time.

She loves to cook:

Speaking to New York Magazine in 2018, Harris expressed her love for cooking, noting that she reads recipes as a way to unwind. “Everything else can be crazy, I can be on six planes in one week, and what makes me feel normal is making Sunday-night family dinner,” she said in the interview. “If I’m cooking, I feel like I’m in control of my life.”