Maya Harris facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Maya Harris
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Harris in 2017
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Maya Lakshmi Harris
January 30, 1967 Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, U.S.
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| Education | University of California, Berkeley (BA) Stanford University (JD) |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Children | Meena Harris (daughter) |
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| Relatives | Family of Kamala Harris |
Maya Lakshmi Harris (born January 30, 1967) is an American lawyer, writer, and public policy expert. She helps create new rules and plans for how society works. Maya Harris was a top advisor for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in 2016. She also led the 2020 presidential campaign for her sister, Kamala Harris.
Maya Harris was born in Champaign–Urbana, Illinois. She went to high school in Oakland, California. Later, she studied at the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University. She has worked with important groups like PolicyLink, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the Center for American Progress. These groups work to make society fairer for everyone.
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Early Life and Education
Maya Lakshmi Harris was born in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. She grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area in California and in Montreal, Canada. Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, was a scientist who studied breast cancer. She came to the U.S. from India in 1958. Her father, Donald Harris, was an economics professor from Jamaica.
Maya and her older sister, Kamala Harris, were raised with beliefs from both Baptist and Hindu faiths. When Maya was 17, she had her daughter, Meena Harris. Maya raised Meena as a single parent while attending Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland.
In 1989, Maya Harris earned her first degree from the University of California, Berkeley. After that, she went to Stanford Law School. While studying law, she helped edit the Stanford Law Review. She also worked with the East Palo Alto Community Law Project. Here, she helped people dealing with domestic violence and was part of the student leadership. She earned her law degree in 1992 with high honors.
Career Highlights
Maya Harris has had a busy career working in law, advocacy, and politics. She has always focused on making things better for people.
Legal Work
After law school, Maya Harris worked for a judge in California. This job is called a "law clerk." In 1994, she joined a law firm in San Francisco. She worked on cases involving both civil and criminal law.
Harris also taught law at different universities. She taught about gender discrimination and contracts. She even became the dean of a small law school in San Jose. At 29, she was one of the youngest law school deans in the U.S. She was also the only Indian woman to hold such a position at that time.
Advocating for Change
Maya Harris worked as a senior expert at PolicyLink. This group works to improve fairness in society and the economy. She helped organize meetings about how police and communities can work better together. She also wrote reports about making police forces fairer.
Harris was the executive director of the Northern California American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The ACLU works to protect people's rights. She was the first Jamaican American and the first South Asian person to lead an ACLU office. In this role, she managed legal cases, worked with the media, and helped organize people. She focused on reducing unfairness in the justice system and improving schools.
In 2003, Harris led a successful campaign in California to stop a law that would have prevented the state from collecting information about people's race and ethnicity. In 2006, she was the main lawyer in a case that helped over 100,000 Californians in jail get their voting rights back.
Helping Others Through Philanthropy
In 2008, Maya Harris joined the Ford Foundation. This is a large organization that gives money to support good causes. She became the vice president for democracy, rights, and justice. She led a team that gave out over $150 million each year. This money helped promote good government, increase people's involvement in democracy, and protect human rights around the world.
Political Involvement
From 2008 to 2013, Harris worked at the Ford Foundation. Before that, she led the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Northern California. She also worked as a senior expert at the Center for American Progress. This group develops new ideas for public policy. She was also a visiting scholar at Harvard Law School. From 2017 to 2018, she was a political and legal expert for the news channel MSNBC.
Maya Harris helped write the Democratic Party's plans for 2016. She was a representative for Hillary Clinton's campaign. Later, she was the chairwoman for her sister Kamala Harris's 2020 campaign for president.
Writing
Maya Harris has written many important essays and reports. In 2006, she wrote an essay called "Fostering Accountable Community-Centered Policing." This was part of a book called The Covenant with Black America. She also wrote about the pay gap between men and women in another report.
She has written guides for police reform and reports on community policing. In 2008, she wrote about how to make sure every vote counts in California. In 2014, she wrote about the growing power of women of color in American elections.
In 2020, Maya Harris wrote in The Atlantic and Women's Health Magazine about living with lupus. This is a long-term illness she was diagnosed with when she was 22.
Awards and Honors
Maya Harris has received many awards for her work:
- In 1997, she won the Junius W. Williams Young Lawyer of the Year Award.
- In 1998, she was named one of the Top 20 Up and Coming Lawyers Under 40.
- In 2006, she was recognized as one of ten notable "Desis" (people of South Asian descent) of the year.
- In 2008, she received the Women Who Dare Award.
- In 2009, she was named to The Root 100, which celebrates African-American leaders.
- In 2014, she received the Champion of Justice Award for her work on gender equality.
Personal Life
Maya Harris has one daughter, Meena Harris, who was born in 1984. Maya has been married to Tony West since July 1998. Maya and Tony met at Stanford Law School, where they were classmates. They became friends there but started their relationship after they graduated.
Her daughter Meena also went to Stanford and later to Harvard Law School. Maya's sister, Kamala Harris, served as the Vice President of the United States from 2021 to 2025.
Images for kids
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Harris in 2017
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Maya with her sister, former Vice President Kamala Harris
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Vice President Kamala Harris and her family walk to the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue on January 20, 2021.
