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Who is Maya Harris, Kamala Harris' sister? Plus, highlights from her DNC speech

Maya Harris speaks at an event in 2018.
Emma McIntyre
/
Getty Images
Maya Harris speaks at an event in 2018.

The NPR Network will be reporting live from Chicago throughout the week bringing you the latest on the Democratic National Convention.


Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris often speaks of her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, as someone who encouraged her and helped inspire her trajectory.

Harris' younger sister, Maya Harris, one of the vice president's closest confidants, again mentioned their mother on this historic night. At one point she seemed to be getting emotional at wondering what Gopalan would say at seeing her eldest daughter accept the Democratic Party's nomination for president.

"I could just see her smiling saying how proud she is of Kamala," she said. "And then, without missing a beat, she'd say, 'That's enough. You have work to do.'"

Like her sister, Maya Harris is a lawyer, and served as a senior policy adviser for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign's policy agenda. Harris also served as campaign chairperson of her sister's 2020 presidential campaign.

She also previously served as the vice president of democracy, rights and justice, and an officer of the philanthropic foundation, the Ford Foundation. She is a graduate of Stanford Law School.

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C Mandler
Jaclyn Diaz is a reporter on Newshub.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

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