All About Ella Emhoff, The 'It' Girl Step-Daughter Of Kamala Harris
Far from the 'childless cat lady' titled Republican vice-presidential nominee J.D. Vance of gave her, Kamala Harris, the sitting Democratic vice-president and the future potential president of the United States, is in fact a step-mother, or 'Momala' if you will, to two children from her husband's first marriage. And it may well be her step-daughter, New York-based 'It' girl Ella Emhoff, who holds the key to the White House for the former attorney general of California.
To the unfamiliar, 25-year-old Ella isn't just the step-daughter of the potential POTUS; she's also a knitting enthusiast, model (signed to the IMG, the same agency as Gigi Hadid and Ashley Graham) and the possible Gen-Z secret weapon of the Harris campaign.
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She's also the focus of intensified attention this week after comments J.D. Vance made during a 2021 Fox News interview which has resurfaced online. In it, Vance denounced proposed Democratic presidential nominee Harris as a 'childless cat lady' with no 'direct stake' in America’s future. The comment prompted outrage, notably from Harris' family, including her step-daughter. 'I love my three parents,' Ella posted on Instagram in response to the comments. 'How can you be "childless" when you have cutie pie kids like Cole and I?'
Ella and her brother Cole – whose names were inspired by jazz musicians Ella Fitzgerald and John Coltrane, respectively – were introduced to Harris two months after the vice-president met their father, second gentleman Doug Emhoff. 'As a child of divorce, I knew how hard it could be when your parents start to date other people. And I was determined not to insert myself in their lives until Doug and I had established we were in this for the long haul. Children need consistency; I didn’t want to insert myself into their lives as a temporary fixture because I didn’t want to disappoint them,' Harris wrote in a 2019 ELLE essay.
Their first meeting was at a seafood restaurant – one of Ella and Cole's favourites, the Reel Inn – off California’s Pacific Coast Highway. Harris recalled in her essay that 'Cole and Ella could not have been more welcoming'.
Harris is now 'dear friends' with her husband’s first wife Kerstin, a film producer and the co-founder of the commercial production company Prettybird. When Vance's comments first came to light again, it was Kerstin who was among the first to defend Harris. 'These are baseless attacks,' she told CNN. 'For over 10 years, since Cole and Ella were teenagers, Kamala has been a co-parent with Doug and I. She is loving, nurturing, fiercely protective, and always present. I love our blended family and am grateful to have her in it.' When Harris and Doug married in 2014, Harris and the children agreed that they didn't like the term 'stepmum', deciding to christen her 'Momala' instead.
After graduating from high school, Ella enrolled at Parsons School of Design in New York, before being hurtled into the public consciousness during her final year as her step-mother became the first woman and first person of colour to enter the race for vice-president alongside Democratic candidate Joe Biden in the 2020 election. Interest in Harris and her family soared, but it was when Ella attended the inauguration in January 2021, (clad in a bejewelled Miu Miu coat and a Batsheva dress), that her star status exploded exponentially. Within days, Ella had an IMG Models contract and was christened 'the first lady of Bushwick.' At New York Fashion Week a matter of weeks later, she made her runway debut at Proenza Schouler.
It's not just modelling that Ella has pursued since graduating with a degree in Fine Art (Harris tweeted at the time of her step-daughter's graduation, writing, 'I am so proud of you. Keep dreaming with ambition and there is nothing you cannot achieve'). She also runs a successful knitwear company, Soft Hands. Her first five designs were released in February 2021, and sold out within 30 minutes.
Since then, she’s continued hand-making and creating her own designs, and has also launched a knitting club, designed to teach knitting and encourage in-person connection. Her popularity has afforded her the opportunity to capitalise on her talents too, which she has used for the greater good. Before officially launching her business, Ella raffled off a few pairs of knit pants on her Instagram; in order to enter, people had to donate at least $10 (£8) to For The Gworls or The Okra Project, two organisations that work to support Black trans people.
'I’ve obviously got a bigger platform now, and I’m excited to share a lot of things I really care about, and do some good,' Emhoff told the New York Times in January 2021. 'There are a lot of people out there that need a lot of help. If I can do anything to help with that, I want to, and I think this opportunity will be really beneficial toward that.'
That's not to say that it's all been plain sailing for Ella, who has amassed an Instagram following alone of more than 340,000 people. 'Growing up, I never saw myself as someone stylish, at all,' she told ELLE US in 2021. 'Obviously, I loved fashion and cared a lot about it. But I was really into doing my own thing and being really comfortable in my own body, you know? I never saw myself as a “fashion person.” And I don’t know if my classmates did either!'
Harris and her husband have already made history: she as the first Black, female and Asian second-in-command of America; he as the country’s first Second Gentleman and first Jewish spouse in the White House. This has already been a history-making, agenda-setting election period – the memefication, social media proliferation and internet appeal of Harris' quick quips are no exception. One of the keys to the White House this year undeniably lies in appealing to the 41 million Gen-Z voters who are eligible to vote. And if the potential future first daughter could give a helping hand to help bolster her beloved 'Momala' chances among her age group, then why wouldn't she?
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