We were raised by a mother who was an extraordinary woman.
She was all of 5 feet tall.
If you'd met her, you would have thought she was 7 feet tall.
And our mother, if I'd ever come home complaining about anything,
she wouldn't have it.
The first thing she'd say is,
'Well, just stop the complaining.
Just tell me what you're gonna do about it.'
Kamala Harris is, of course, our first of many kinds:
vice president—the first woman vice president,
first Black vice president,
first South Asian American vice president.
She is passionate,
someone who cares deeply for her family and for everyone, really.
And someone whose work is really fueled by purpose
and many of the lessons her mom taught her.
[NowThis' Chelsea Frisbie] Kamala Harris’ mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris,
was a huge inspiration for the future VP.
[Vice President Kamala Harris] She never let us believe that anything
could get in the way of our dreams or pursuits.
Shyamala Gopalan Harris had two North Stars
that she lived in service of every single day:
to cure cancer
and to raise two confident, strong
Black and Indian American women.
A researcher whose work around breast cancer is widely celebrated,
Gopalan Harris carried expectations of excellence
that helped encourage Kamala; her sister, Maya;
and everyone around them to be the best they could be.
I think a lot about Vice President Harris' first campaign,
when she ran for district attorney in San Francisco.
Her mother was a regular at the campaign office,
feeding folks, putting people to work, and also mentoring the volunteers
and the staff at the office the way she mentored her daughter.
So one thing I think about is how she would drop off
Vice President Harris at bus stations and grocery stores with,
with campaign posters and an ironing board—
because she said the ironing board is the OG standing desk—
for her to set up, and communicate with
and talk to potential voters, and canvass,
pick her up and take her to another place.
She also made sure volunteers
felt taken care of and felt important in this work.
There was one moment that I think about—
it's a quote from her that was shared by one of Vice President Harris' mentees
and early volunteers from that first campaign, which is,
from that first campaign, which is, ‘We always show up excellent.’
And that is in how you look,
in how you feel, and in how you speak.
And, you know, political volunteers will know that it's jeans
and T-shirts, and it's typically very casual,
but the exacting standards that Shyamala had for her daughters,
she had for everybody who came into her circle, from graduate students
and postdocs in her lab to her daughter's campaign volunteers.
And it was a standard set out of love.
But also in preparing these women, often women of color,
of showing up in the world in a way that you [are] giving yourself respect
and demanding respect from others that came from you.
My mother taught me that service to others gives life purpose and meaning.
And, oh, how I wish she were here tonight.
But I know she’s looking down on me from above.
To me, I think [Vice President Harris is] living her mother's dream
and her mother's own life purpose.
And so, in one sense, she's living for her mother,
but she's also living for every person in America,
but especially the ones who have traditionally been othered,
to be able to step into their power, live their truth,
and define success for themselves, and define their North Stars,
and be able to reach them.
When [my mother] came here from India at the age of 19,
she maybe didn't quite imagine this moment.
But she believed so deeply
in an America where a moment like this is possible.