Kamala Harris, the incumbent Democratic Vice President and future potential President of the United States, is anything but the “childless cat lady” that Republican Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance had in mind for her. In fact, she is the stepmother, or “Momala” if you will, of two children from her husband’s first marriage. And it could well be that her stepdaughter, New York-based “It Girl” Ella Emhoff, holds the key to the White House for the former Attorney General of California.

For those who don’t know, 25-year-old Ella is not only the stepdaughter of the potential US president; she is also a knitting enthusiast, a model (signed to IMG, the same agency as Gigi Hadid and Ashley Graham) and the possible Gen Z secret weapon in Harris’ campaign.

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She is also the focus of increased attention this week after JD Vance made comments during a 2021 Fox News interview that have resurfaced online. In it, Vance denounced proposed Democratic presidential candidate Harris as a “childless cat lady” with no “direct stake” in America’s future. The comment sparked outrage, particularly from Harris’ family, including her stepdaughter. “I love my three parents,” Ella posted on Instagram in response to the comments. “How can you be ‘childless’ when you have cute kids like Cole and me?”

Ella and her brother Cole – whose names were inspired by jazz musicians Ella Fitzgerald and John Coltrane – were introduced to Harris two months after the vice president met her father, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff. “As a child of divorce, I knew how hard it can be when your parents start dating other people. And I was determined not to interfere in their lives until Doug and I had established that we were in this for the long haul. Children need stability; I didn’t want to interfere in their lives as a temporary fixture because I didn’t want to disappoint them,” Harris wrote in a 2019 ELLE essay.

Their first meeting took place at a seafood restaurant—one of Ella and Cole’s favorites, the Reel Inn—near the Pacific Coast Highway in California. Harris recalled in her essay that “Cole and Ella couldn’t have been more hospitable.”

Harris is now “close friends” with her husband’s first wife, Kerstin, a film producer and co-founder of the advertising production company Prettybird. When Vance’s comments first came to light, Kerstin was the first to defend Harris. “These are baseless attacks,” she told CNN. “Kamala has been a mother with Doug and me for over 10 years, since Cole and Ella were teenagers. She is loving, caring, fiercely protective and always there. I love our blended family and am grateful to have her.” When Harris and Doug married in 2014, Harris and the children agreed that they didn’t like the term “stepmother” and decided to christen her “Momala” instead.

After graduating high school, Ella enrolled at Parsons School of Design in New York before catapulting into the public consciousness during her senior year when her stepmother became the first woman and first person of color to enter the running for vice president alongside Democratic candidate Joe Biden. Interest in Harris and her family skyrocketed, but it wasn’t until Ella attended the inauguration in January 2021 (wearing a jeweled Miu Miu coat and Batsheva dress) that her star status exploded exponentially. Within days, Ella had signed with IMG Models and was dubbed the “First Lady of Bushwick.” She made her runway debut at Proenza Schouler at New York Fashion Week a few weeks later.

Ella hasn’t just wanted to model since graduating with a degree in Fine Arts (Harris tweeted at the time of her stepdaughter’s graduation, “I’m so proud of you. Keep dreaming ambitiously and there is nothing you can’t 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 has continued to make crafts and create her own designs, and has also started a knitting club that teaches knitting and encourages personal connections. Her popularity has also given her the opportunity to use her talents, which she has put to good use. Before officially opening her business, Ella gave away a few pairs of knitted trousers on her Instagram. 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 obviously have a bigger platform now, and I’m excited to share a lot of things that I’m really passionate 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 do that, and I think this opportunity will be really helpful in that.”

But that doesn’t mean it was all plain sailing for Ella, who has over 340,000 followers on Instagram alone. “Growing up, I never saw myself as someone with style,” she told ELLE US in 2021. “Of course I loved fashion and cared about it. But I really wanted to do my own thing and be 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 America’s first Black, female and Asian representative; he as the country’s first Second Gentleman and the first Jewish spouse in the White House. This has already been a history-making, landmark election cycle—the memefication, social media proliferation and internet appeal of Harris’ quick-witted quips are no exception. Undeniably, one of the keys to the White House this year is appealing to the 41 million eligible Gen Z voters. And if the potential future First Daughter could help bolster her beloved “Momala” opportunity among her peer group, why wouldn’t she?

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