America voted for change – and with Kamala Harris, they have certainly got it.
The former US senator from California is the first woman to serve as vice president after being sworn in with President Joe Biden in Washington DC.
She is also the first black person and person of South Asian descent to take on the role, becoming the highest-ranking woman ever to serve in the American government.
Kamala Harris has been sworn in as US vice president
During the race for the Democratic nomination, the 56-year-old described herself as a “progressive prosecutor” who backs law enforcement reforms.
Ms Harris eventually dropped out of the race in December 2019 with low polling numbers, and later endorsed Mr Biden.
But who is she?
Ms Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff arrive at the inauguration
Born in Oakland, California in 1964, her father is Jamaican and an economist. Her mother was Indian and was a biologist who worked in breast cancer research. She died in 2009.
The name Kamala means lotus in Sanskrit and is another name for the Hindu goddess Lakshmi. Ms Harris accompanied her mother on trips to India throughout her younger years.
Her parents met at the University of California, Berkeley, where they were both involved in the civil rights movement.
Ms Harris waves to the crowd during San Francisco Gay Pride in 2018
They divorced when Kamala was seven and she was raised with her sister Maya by their mother in Berkeley.
During elementary school she was “bussed” from her predominantly black neighbourhood to her school as part of the attempts to diversify the racial make-up of schools.
Ms Harris attended Howard University, a historically black college in Washington DC, where she studied political science and economics.
After attending law school back in California, she became a prosecutor and was hired as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County in 1990.
From there she became district attorney for San Francisco in 2003. During her first three years in the position, the conviction rate in the city jumped from 52% to 67%.
She also created a re-entry programme for low-level drug offenders and cracked down on student truancy.
The Biden-Harris ticket won the race to the White House
In 2010, she won the race to become California’s attorney general – beating Republican Steve Cooley by just 0.8 percentage points and becoming the first woman and black person to hold the job.
She married lawyer Doug Emhoff in 2014, with her sister Maya officiating the ceremony.
In 2016, she won the US Senate race in California, beating fellow Democrat Loretta Sanchez who had 20 years’ experience in Congress.
Ms Harris ran for the Democratic nomination for president
Here, she built a reputation around her work as a prosecutor, and gained national attention during her forensic questioning of Trump administration officials including Jeff Sessions, and then Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Ms Harris launched her presidential campaign in 2019 with the slogan “Kamala Harris For The People” – but she eventually dropped out with dwindling polling numbers and a lack of funding.
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‘I’m not a billionaire’: Harris ends White House bid
She faced criticism over her record as attorney general, particularly towards her opposition to the death penalty and inaction over alleged police brutality.
Mr Biden then picked her as his running mate, describing her as a “fearless fighter for the little guy”. Ms Harris was also close to his late son, Beau, who was also a state attorney general.
In a touching moment after it was revealed Mr Biden won the presidential election in November, she called him while out running.
“We did it,” she said. “We did it, Joe. You’re going to be the next president of the United States.”
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Harris congratulates Biden on election win
In her first speech as vice-president elect, she wore a white trouser suit in tribute to women’s suffrage and spoke of the many women who made her achievement possible, personally and historically.
“While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last,” she said.
Ms Harris was sworn in as vice president in front of the US Capitol by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
Kamala Harris bumps fists with Joe Biden after being sworn in
The moment was steeped in history and significance – in more ways than one.
She was escorted to the podium by Eugene Goodman, the police officer who took on a mob of Trump supporters who stormed the US Capitol.
After taking the oath of office, a beaming Ms Harris hugged her husband and gave Mr Biden a fist bump.
Her rise is historic in any context, another moment when a stubborn boundary falls away, expanding the idea of what’s possible in American politics.