When Kamala Harris takes oath as the 49th vice-President of the United States of America on January 20 amid the pandemic and sparse audience, she will usher in many firsts — first woman, first Asian, first black, daughter of immigrant parents. But beyond these firsts, her oath-taking will be accompanied by a loud message of resilience and perseverance, of fighting odds to come out tops, of her wont to shine in the face of opposition.

These traits started very early in life for 56-year-old Harris, born to immigrant parents. Her father Donald Harris was from Jamaica and her mother Shyamala Gopalan from Chennai. She describes her mother as her single biggest influence who “taught her the importance of hard work and to believe in our power to right what is wrong.”

She often speaks, with some emotion, about how she, as a young girl, was one of the black students of a school bussing program as a child, which involved African American students being driven long distances to a previously segregated school.

After serving two terms as district attorney for San Francisco from 2004-2011, Kamala Harris was twice elected as the California attorney general. After four years at Howard, Harris got her law degree at the University of California, Hastings, and began her career in the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.

Harris had the distinction of being both the first woman and the first African American to serve as the top law enforcement official of the most populous US state.

Some of her decisions as the attorney general raised heckles even among some on the Democratic left. She launched a ‘back on track’ programme to reduce recidivism. The programme encouraged first-time offenders to get a job, enroll in school and be able to lead a normal life.

Harris’ one of the most controversial decisions came in 2004 when she declined to pursue the death penalty against the man who murdered San Francisco police officer Isaac Espinoza.

As California AG, Harris declined to support two ballot initiatives that would’ve banned the death penalty.

As AG, she created Open Justice, which is an online platform to make justice data available to the public. This, in turn, helped improve ‘police accountability by collecting information on the number of deaths and injuries of those in police custody’, reported Politico.

As Senator, she has advocated healthcare reform, federal de-scheduling of cannabis, a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, a ban on assault weapons, and progressive tax reform. She gained a national profile for her pointed questioning of Trump administration officials during Senate hearings, including Trump’s second Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexual assault.

Before her successful vice-presidential bid, Harris sought the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, but dropped out of the race prior to the primaries. She won applause for her poise and composure during the vice-presidential race. She also performed superlatively against Mike Pence in the vice-presidential debate that was held in October. “Mr Vice-President, I’m speaking” was one of the highlights of the debate.

The Indian-origin senator said when Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden called her to be his running mate, she knew exactly what to do.”I knew I had to do exactly what my mother would have wanted me to do. With so much on the line, I had to do something,” said Harris.

Known to love cooking, Harris finds time to cook Sunday dinners for her family despite her hectic schedule. According to Politico, Harris is an enthusiastic cook who bookmarks recipes from the New York Times’ cooking section and has tried almost all the recipes from Alice Waters’ ‘The Art of Simple Food’.

Married for six years to Doug Emhoff, who owns a law firm, Kamala Harris is Momala to his two children from a previous marriage. He took a leave of absence from DLA Piper, the law firm he joined as a partner in 2017, to be around Harris during the campaign.

Her comment at a rally summed up the importance signified by her breaking the glass ceiling. “While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last,” the former United States Senator from California promised a Wilmington, Delaware crowd while delivering her November victory speech. “Because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.”