Kamala Harris’ stepdaughter Ella Emhoff wins the inauguration by upstaging Mike Pence
Ella Emhoff. (Twitter)
Kamala Harris’ stepdaughter Ella Emhoff is already an internet fave, and her appearance at the presidential inauguration has only cemented her status.
The new vice president is known simply as “Momala” to Ella Emhoff and her brother Cole, the children of Kamala Harris’ husband, lawyer Doug Emhoff.
Thrust into the limelight by her stepmum’s stunning ascent to the White House, images of Ella arriving at the inauguration, seemingly bemused by Mike Pence’s presence, were beamed across America and around the world on Wednesday (20 January).
Ella Emhoff, that’s the tweet. pic.twitter.com/CYQ7q2zLNs
— Yener Perez (@Iamyener) January 20, 2021
https://twitter.com/sloppymenace/status/1351924190845292544
Catching Ella Emhoff wiggling her eyebrows when Mike Pence walked out actually just made my day, the kids are all right— girl sweatshirt (@lo_dot_biz) January 20, 2021
The 21-year-old is a textiles student specialising in knitwear at Parsons School of Design in New York.
Her designs are regularly showcased on her colourful Instagram account, where in November (days after her stepmum was elected vice president), she proved herself a commited trans ally, too.
Ella raffled off a pair of her knitted trousers to benefit For The Gworls, which raises funds to assist Black trans folk with rent and gender-affirming surgeries.
View this post on Instagram
She’s also an unlikely TikTok star, having gone viral when she tried a McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish for the first time. Some 400,000 people watched the clip, posted by Kamala Harris‘ niece Meena Harris.
https://www.tiktok.com/foryou?lang=en#/@meena/video/6891148118784478469
In an interview with Garage, Ella said that she is “embracing” the attention suddenly being focused on her.
“I think honestly being in this city [New York] has allowed me to really focus on school because I would say my first job right now is to be a student and to finish that, and then worry about those other things,” she said.
Ella said she hadn’t let the election campaign “interject” with her life as a student “so much”, but added: ‘When I went to see [my family], it broke that bubble. It’s harder to hide. I think for a while New York was a good solace and escape, but now I’ve embraced [this new life] and I’m trying to let them commingle.”
