Her stepmom and dad may be the Vice President and Second Gentleman of the United States, but Ella Emhoff is the commander-in-chief of many Gen Z hearts. Emhoff is the daughter of Douglas Emhoff, the first Second Gentleman ever, and stepdaughter of Kamala Harris, the 49th Vice President of the United States.
Harris and her running mate, President Joe Biden, took the oath of office as the next POTUS and VPOTUS on Inauguration Day on January 20, 2021. Harris and Biden’s inauguration came after they beat former President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence in the 2020 Presidential Election in November 2020. Along with Emhoff (who is the first Second Gentleman in American history), Harris also made history as the first woman, Black woman and woman of South Asian descent to be sworn in as Vice President.
But while Harris and Emhoff may have become the next Vice President and Second Gentleman on Inauguration Day, many eyes were on their kids: Cole and Ella. Cole and Ella are Emhoff’s son and daughter from his marriage to Kerstin Emhoff. The two split in 2008 after 16 years of marriage. Harris is a stepmom to Cole and Ella, who call her “Momala” as a nickname. Ella, in particular, has been a breakout of the inauguration. So who is Ella Emhoff? Well, read more about her ahead.
Who is Ella Emhoff?
Ella is the 22-year-old daughter of Douglas and Kirsten Emhoff and is the couple’s youngest child of two. Both Ella and her brother, Cole, were named after jazz legends: Cole is named after saxophonist John Coltrane, while Ella is named after singer Ella Fitzgerald. Though neither kid plays music, their mother produces music videos, including the video for Beyoncé’s 2013 song “Pretty Hurts.”
Though her dad grew up in Brooklyn, New York City, Ella and her brother, Cole, were raised in Los Angeles. The two attended Wildwood High School in L.A., where Ella was on the basketball team and swim team. In a 2020 interview with Glamour, Ella opened up about what it was like for her dad to date Kamala after his divorce from their mom. I think when we met her, I was about to go into high school, so I was in an equally intense time, but for different, more angsty reasons,” she said. “It felt serious when [Douglas] was just talking about her, because I could hear it in his voice. When we did meet, it all felt so natural that it wasn’t even a big deal. It felt like we had known each other forever. And I think what was important was getting to know her as a person first—a person before a politician.”
However, Ella and Harris had some roadblocks. In a 2019 essay for Elle, Kamala wrote about how she missed Ella’s high school graduation to hear James Comey’s testimony in the Russia election-hacking investigation .“I agonized over the scheduling conflict,” Harris wrote before adding that Ella was “understanding” of her absence. She also wrote that she made it back that night for a celebratory family dinner.
What is Ella Emhoff’s job?
@meenaElla Emhoff is the main character (who just tried Filet-O-Fish for the first time EVER) ##biden2020♬ positions – Ariana Grande
Ella is a student at Parsons School of Design in New York City, where she majors in apparel and textiles. (Her brother is an executive assistant at Plan B Entertainment, a production company founded by Brad Pitt.) Ella, who lives in Brooklyn, also has a website, EllaEmhoff.com, where she sells knitted clothes. according to her website, Ella sells pants for $180, biker shorts for $120, basketball shorts for $140, pants and intarsia (a knitting technique) for $220, tank tops for $150 to $160, bucket hats for $60 and tote bags for $80 to $100. She also takes custom orders, and customers can pay her on Venmo @ELLA-EMHOFF and her email emhoffart@gmail.com. Ella is also a TikTok sensation, especially after she starred in Harris’ niece Meena Harris’ TikTok video, where she ate a Filet O Fish for the first time ever. The video has since been liked more than 300,000 times.
