Plus hearing the lessons about perseverance, work ethic and striving to create social change that Meena absorbed along the way. I was thrilled at the prospect of spending 20 minutes over Zoom asking them about the challenges Maya hurdled as she worked her way through Stanford Law School with her tiny sidekick along for the ride.

Which is why when presented the opportunity to chat with the two women for E! News as part of a series highlighting extraordinary mothers, I gave one of the quickest yeses of my life.

'I think I'm borrowing and replicating and trying to carry on that legacy of how I was raised.' 'I approaching parenting in the same way,' Meena said of teaching her girls to use their voices and seek out their ways of making a mark on the world. Looking back, Maya admitted, there were moments she worried she was coming up short 'because I was juggling work, juggling school, you know, wanting to be the math mom and drive on the field trip.'īut more than three decades later, it's rewarding to see that not only is her daughter 'a kind and caring and compassionate person with a sense of duty and responsibility,' but she's using the same guidebook (one Maya lifted from her mother, breast cancer researcher Shyamala Gopalan Harris) with her own young daughters. But one could argue her entire life has been a masterclass in bringing up engaged, thoughtful, curious women thanks to mom Maya Harris, who, as a young, single mother working her way through law school took her kindergartner to lectures and on-campus protests, letting her claim a place at the proverbial adults' table when discussing important issues. Guys, we're talking pro-level parenting here.Īfter all, four years into mothering Amara and her 3-year-old sister Leela with partner Nikolas Ajagu, 36-year-old Meena is no rookie. Let's talk about it,'' she recalled to E! News, noting she used her daughter's admission to launch into a discussion about math and space stimulation.Īs for her presidential dreams, 'I try to work that in when she's disagreeing with her sister,' the founder and CEO of Phenomenal explained, 'and I'm like, 'If you want to be a president, you have to be able to communicate effectively and you have to be able to influence people.'' Oh, and and also a president, inspired by the half dozen female candidates she watched take a stab at the country's loftiest position this past year.Īnd though it'd be easy to brush off such an enthusiastic declaration as the naive musings of a child who might decide the following week that she'd like to be a firefighter or, perhaps, a mermaid, Meena is not about to patronize her ambitious girl. Which is why she recently approached Mom and announced her future career aspirations: She is going to be an astronaut, like NASA legend Mae Jemison. Like many a bold 4-year-old, Meena Harris' daughter Amara feels as if the sky is the limit.

Maya harris single mom