1 / 8Indian graduate student Shyamala Gopalan met Jamaican-born academic Donald Harris in California, while both attended a student-organized weekly meeting that discussed Black intellectuals, the New York Times reports. The two dated and married a year after meeting, with Gopalan giving birth to Kamala at the age 25. The family attended protests together and according to the Los Angeles Times2 / 8From the start of her political career, Harris has cited her mother as the biggest source of inspiration in her life. “Shyamala Harris was no more than five feet tall, but if you ever met her you would think she was seven feet tall. She had such spirit and tenacity and I’m thankful every day to have been raised by her,” she wrote on a Mother’s Day Instagram post.She passed away in 2009 due to colon cancer, but her influence on Harris is still apparent3 / 8Kamala has a young sister Maya Harris 53, is a lawyer and has been at her sister’s side since childhood, serving as a political advisor during Hillary Clinton’s presidential run and her sister’s short-lived campaign in 2019.4 / 8Harris has spoken highly of her maternal grandparents, In a Instagram post he mentioned fought for and was a defender of the freedom of India, while my grandmother travelled across India5 / 8With the historic electoral win by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, her husband Douglas Emhoff also scripted history as he will be the first 'Second Gentleman' - the first male spouse of a vice president in the US when she takes the oath of office in January. Harris is married to Emhoff, 56, a successful entertainment lawyer, who has been a strong and supportive presence for Harris during the election campaign. Emhoff proposed to Harris in 2014 and the two were married at the courthouse in Santa Barbara later that year in a ceremony officiated by Harris' sister Maya.6 / 8In 1992, Emhoff married his first wife, Kerstin, who went on to co-found the production company Prettybird. Though they divorced 16 years later, they remain close—she even volunteered to help with Harris's presidential bid.Together, Emhoff and Kerstin have two children, Cole and Ella (named for John Coltrane and Ella Fitzgerald.) Cole is a graduate of Colorado College and Ella studies Fine Arts at Parsons School of Design.7 / 8This is Maya's daughter, Meena Harris an American lawyer and founder of the Phenomenal Woman Action Campaign, as well as an author of children’s books.eena was born in Oakland, California in 1984 and would go on to get a degree from Harvard Law School in 2012 after her bachelor’s from Stanford University in 2006.8 / 8This is Tony West, who is married to Kamala Harris sister Maya, he is the Chief Legal Officer at Uber and formerly served as the Associate Attorney General of the U.S.