Exclusive: Kamala Harris’ Rise

by Natasha Wolff | January 13, 2021 12:30 pm

When DuJour Media’s CEO and founder Jason Binn[1] produced an exclusive photoshoot and interview with the current Vice President Kamala Harris[2] in 2013, she had been California’s Attorney General for three years already. Her election in 2010 was so excruciatingly close that when she spoke to the news outlets and general public right before the election was called, most were in tears. “Everyone was crying because they thought we had lost! I was the only one who didn’t think so,” she told DuJour Media’s Jason Binn[1] of that moment in time. Harris won by just 74,000 votes and her opponent, Steve Cooley, Republican district attorney of Los Angeles, conceded three weeks later.

Fast-forward to 2020 and another intensely close election, Harris has made history as the first Black, first Asian American, and first female Vice President. Standing by President Joe Biden[3]’s side earlier this year to address the nation[4] prior to the inauguration, Harris inspired the world (in a powerfully symbolic white suit[5]) by saying, “While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last. Because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.”

With U.S. Senator and Vice President Kamala Harris in New York City

While we have seen time and time again that Harris aims to not only find success in all of her endeavors but to exceed her own goals, her coworkers have also enforced that sentiment for years. “With Kamala, the sky really is the limit,” her friend and influential Sacramento lawmaker Mark Leno said of Harris long before she secured the title of Vice President. Harris’ 2013 senior policy advisor Michael Troncoso told DuJour Media’s Jason Binn[1], “Kamala’s a trial lawyer. She’s negotiated I don’t know how many plea deals, and she has a saying: ‘Don’t take “no” till the fifth time.’”

Vice President Kamala Harris may have said it best herself[6], though: “Don’t tell me ‘no.’ That’s a bad and wrong thing to say to me. I eat ‘no’ for breakfast.”

Source URL: https://dujour.com/news/vice-president-elect-kamala-harris-jason-binn/