Kamala Harris shared her first job, and it had something to do with her mom at the latter’s laboratory.
Kamala Harris’ mom, Shyamala Gopalan Harris from Chennai, was a breast cancer researcher. She succumbed to cancer in 2009. Meanwhile, her father, Donald Harris, is a Jamaican American professor of economics. The vice president shared her first job when she visited the National Health Institute headquarters.
Kamala Harris used to clean pipettes
Vice President Kamala Harris visited the National Health Institute (NHI) headquarters again for the second dose of her COVID-19 vaccine. During the visit, she walked down memory lane and recalled how they had always known that their mother was going to a place called Bethesda, and what she was doing was coming to NHI because she was working me the biochemical endocrinology section.
“She was a peer reviewer,” Harris said about her mom’s job, which included reviewing grants. “My mother had two goals in her life: to raise her two daughters and end breast cancer. In fact, a little known fact is that my first job was cleaning pipettes in my mother’s lab. She would take us there with her after school and on weekends.”
The 56-year-old VP said she grew up around science and praised it as a noble pursuit. Harris also recognized the significance of NIH, and it’s essential function, which is to improve public health. He also stressed that NIH works for people, not for profits.
“And so I have the luxury of being here at this moment on just the fifth day of our administration coming full circle. Because you see, NIH was such a huge part of my youth as this place that my mother went all the time and was very excited to work,” she added.
Vice President-elect @KamalaHarris is our February cover star!
Making history was the first step. Now Harris has an even more monumental task: to help heal a fractured America—and lead it out of crisis. Read the full profile: https://t.co/W5BQPTH7AU pic.twitter.com/OCFvVqTlOk
— Vogue Magazine (@voguemagazine) January 10, 2021
Kamala’s Vogue cover
In related news, Kamala Harris was featured in Vogue’s February cover. However, many were not happy with her picture on the cover because she was wearing Converse and the colors of the curtain behind her were green and pink, reflecting the sorority colors.
Some of the netizens slammed Vogue and accused it of being disrespectful to the VP because plus-size model Paloma Elsesser and harry Styles’ covers were better than Harris.
Despite the criticisms, many didn’t mind Harris’ look on the cover because, for them, her appearance doesn’t matter. She earned her position of power, and that was enough for them. Some also argued that it was disrespectful because, for them, it made Harris more relatable to the people.
Image used courtesy of PBS NewsHour/YouTube Screenshot