Kamala Harris has taken oath as vice president of the United States and made a history as the first female, first black and first Asian-American US vice-president.

She was sworn in a few minutes before Joe Biden who has taken oath as the 46th U.S. president. Harris initially ran for the Democratic nomination.

Joe Biden won the U.S. presidential race and picked Harris as his running mate. He also described her as “a fearless fighter for the little guy”, BBC reports.

Before taking the oath the U.S. Capitol, Kamala Harris paid tribute to those women who came before her. “I stand on their shoulders,” she said in a video.

READ MORE: Joe Biden Takes Oath as 46th U.S. President

Who is Kamala Harris?

Kamala Harris, 56, was born in Oakland, California. Her father, a Jamaican, taught at Stanford University, and her mother, the daughter of an Indian diplomat, was a cancer researcher.

Kamala studied at political science and economics (B.A., 1986) at Howard University and earned a law degree (1989) from Hastings College.

She subsequently worked as a deputy district attorney for eight years since 1990 in Oakland. She earned a reputation for toughness as she prosecuted cases of gang violence, drug trafficking, and sexual abuse.

Harris rose through the ranks and became district attorney in 2004. She was narrowly elected attorney general of California in 2010 and oversaw the largest state justice department in the United States.

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