With hours to go for the US vice-presidential debate, California senator and Democratic Presidential nominee, Joe Biden’s running mate Kamala Harris scored a minor win over Republican rival Mike Pence. She forced him to erect a plexiglass barrier for the debate in Salt Lake City, bringing to an end week-long sniping between the two teams over the issue.

The dispute was an indicator of a larger clash between the two teams, focused sharply on President Donald Trump’s alleged mishandling of the pandemic and the recent COVID-19 spurt in the White House. For Kamala Harris, putting up plexiglass dividers could be seen as a symbol of her wont to shine in face of opposition.

This trait started very early in life for 55-year-old Harris, born to a Black father and an Indian mother, both immigrants. Her father Donald Harris, from Jamaica, and her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, from Chennai. She describes 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.”

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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.

From then to now, when she is the first black running mate in a major party and, possibly, the first female vice-president of the United States.

“My mother would often tell me that if you’re the first to do something, make sure you’re not the last,” were the words that stood by her during her unsuccessful run for the Democratic presidential nomination in December 2019.

A year ago, Harris had surged to the front of a crowded field of presidential candidates on the back of a series of strong debate performances but by end of 2019, her campaign came to a halt.

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Exactly after seven months of pulling out of the presidential race, Harris made headlines again as Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s running mate. Harris, who made scathing remarks on Biden during her short-lived presidential campaign, shifted to a completely different tone in March, when she endorsed the former vice-president, saying she would do “everything in my power to help elect him the next President of the United States”.

After serving two terms as district attorney for San Francisco from 2004-2011, she was twice elected as the California attorney general. 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.

 But what contradicted this move was her stance in court, where her lawyers argued for keeping people in prison, even those who were eligible for parole or had been proved innocent, as letting them out would ‘reduce the state’s prison labour pool’. She also pushed for reforms within the police system to tackle racial bias and police brutality.

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Under Harris, California became the first statewide agency to mandate body cameras. Harris also introduced a training program for law enforcement officers called “Principled Policing: Procedural Justice and Implicit Bias”.

In January 2017, Harris became the first India-American to ever serve in the chamber when she was sworn in as the California senator.

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

When Kamala Harris bowed out of the Presidential campaign in December 2019, her husband posted a black and white photo of them sitting on a chair and she leaning back on him with the caption “I’ve got you @kamalaharris … As always.” Then a heart emoji.