Many people are more than familiar with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’ story: She was born in Oakland, Calif., by a Jamaican American father and Indian American mother who divorced when she was young. Her parents were both politically active and often took Kamala along with them while they attended civil rights marches — and the family was always joined by Kamala’s younger sister, Maya Harris.
Like her sister, Maya also pursued a career in law. After graduating from Bishop O’Dowd High School in San Francisco, Maya gave birth to her daughter, Meena Harris, in October 1984. Maya then attended the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford Law School, where she met her husband Tony West.
Maya later told Stanford Lawyer Magazine that her parents were a huge part of why she studied law in the first place. “Their activism and what they were striving to achieve was what we talked about at the dinner table,” she said. “I knew at a very early age that I was going to one day have a career that would allow me to work for social justice and focus on improving the quality of people’s lives.”
She went on to assist her sister’s political campaigns — first Kamala’s 2003 run for San Francisco district attorney and most recently her 2024 bid for the presidency — and also worked as a senior policy advisor for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.
“When she is elected president of the United States, I will call her Madam President … until then, she is big sister Kamala,” Maya told PEOPLE in September 2024.
Here is everything to know about Kamala Harris’ sister, Maya Harris.
They have always been very close
Kamala and Maya grew up close, moving around between the Midwest, California and Quebec during their formative years. They stayed with their mother when their parents divorced in the early 1970s.
“We forged a bond that is unbreakable,” Kamala told The Washington Post of Maya in 2019. “When I think about it, all of the joyous moments in our lives, all of the challenging moments, all of the moments of transition, we have always been together.”
Amid Kamala’s 2024 bid for president, Maya spoke to PEOPLE about supporting her sister.
“I will always support her, stand by her side and have her back the way I know she has mine,” the younger Harris sister said. “It’s never been about a position or a title. It’s always been about the ability to have an impact.”
Maya added: “She’s a force. She’s fearless, she’s relentless, she’s tough, she’s courageous. I mean, she really has been that way since we were kids. She’s never backed down from a challenge.”
Kamala and Maya are both lawyers
Both Harris sisters are lawyers. Kamala received her bachelor’s degree from Howard University and her juris doctor from UC Berkeley; Maya earned her undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley and her law degree from Stanford. Maya was also raising her daughter, Meena, while she finished her college degrees.
Maya also met her husband, Tony West, while in law school. The pair later shared that neither thought they would become lawyers when they were young, but they both knew law careers would propel them to achieve their greater goals. West told Stanford Lawyer Magazine, “It was such an enriching, positive experience for me. … Of course the best thing that came out of law school was that I met my wife.”
Maya gave birth to her daughter Meena shortly after high school
Maya’s daughter Meena is a well-known figure, especially after the success of the Phenomenal Woman Action Campaign. As the founder and CEO, Meena has shared that she is “both humbled and proud” of the brand’s success.
Maya became pregnant with Meena during her senior year of high school, and she often took her toddler to class or on-campus protests while she was also enrolled in law school. Maya later recalled to E! News that she was often “juggling work, juggling school, you know, wanting to be the math mom and drive on the field trip.”
It’s clear that Maya made things work, and Meena told the outlet that she was trying to raise her own daughters, Amara and Leela, the same way her mother raised her. “I think I’m borrowing and replicating and trying to carry on that legacy of how I was raised,” Meena told the outlet.
Maya officiated Kamala’s wedding in 2014
Maya was on hand to participate in Kamala’s 2014 wedding to Doug Emhoff in a crucial way: She officiated their ceremony! Kamala and Emhoff were married at the courthouse in Santa Barbara, Calif. Meena also read Maya Angelou’s poem “Touched by an Angel” at the ceremony.
Her daughter wrote a book about Kamala and Maya
In 2020, Meena published the kids’ book Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea, which was based on the vice president and her sister. HarperCollins Publishers described the book as “a beautiful, empowering picture book about two sisters who work with their community to effect change.”
Maya is also politically engaged
Like her older sister and parents, Maya is also politically active. In addition to assisting Kamala’s 2003 campaign for San Francisco DA and her 2020 campaign for president, Maya also worked as a senior policy advisor for Hillary Clinton during her 2016 presidential run. Maya and Clinton weren’t well acquainted before she took the position, but they soon became fast friends as well as colleagues.
As Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta told Talking Points Memo: “Hillary really trusted [Maya’s] instincts. Maya would cut through the bulls—, brief her quickly and give her something to think about.”
She has been open about her lupus diagnosis
In 2020, Maya wrote an essay for The Atlantic about her lupus diagnosis. Maya was first diagnosed with the condition while she was in college and kept it private for three decades. In fact, Maya decided to open up to the public about her experience with lupus after President Donald Trump suggested that hydroxychloroquine, a drug commonly used to control lupus symptoms, be used to prevent COVID-19 — despite its efficacy being entirely unproven.
Maya wrote, “When the president of the United States decided to hype — as a coronavirus treatment — the primary medication used for controlling lupus, he put an already disadvantaged group of patients in even greater jeopardy.”
Source: People
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