US Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris is a true inspiration. In this extract from her bestselling book, The Truths We Hold: An American Journey, she discusses the value of mentoring, the wise words from her mother that she holds close, and the friend who will always have her back.

I was in the middle of my first campaign for district attorney when I got a call from an old law school friend, Lisa, who was working as a career counselor at a nearby law school. She had met a young black woman named Venus Johnson, a second-year law student who had grown up in Oakland, the child of an immigrant, with dreams of becoming a prosecutor. Not surprisingly, when my friend heard Venus’s story, she thought of me. We arranged to spend a day together in the fall of 2003, and from the moment I shook Venus’s hand, I could feel this incredible sense of commonality. I could see myself in her. She was kind enough to spend the day following me around while I campaigned and ran errands. At one point, we ended up shopping for a wedding present for one of my dear friends. (I settled on bedding.) At another, we drove past a storefront that had a sign for my opponent in the window.

“Come on, let’s go,” I told Venus as I grabbed one of my own signs out of the trunk. We went in and I shook hands with the store owner and asked him for his support. “But... um... I have another candidate’s sign in my window,” he said, not sure what to make of me. “That’s okay,” I told him. “You can put mine in the window, too!” He agreed, and we were on our way. Over lunch, Venus and I talked about the reasons she wanted to be a prosecutor, and the kind of work she had hoped to do. I learned that her father had a long career in law enforcement, and that she always imagined herself fighting on behalf of victims. I told her that I had taken a similar path and recommended she follow her instincts and join the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office. I’d be happy, I told her, to make some calls on her behalf. She seemed to wonder why I was doing this for her. I told her that there was something my mother used to say that I always held close. “You may be the first. Don’t be the last.” My mother had gotten to where she was because of the help of mentors. I had gotten to where I was because of mentors, too. And I intended to be a mentor to as many people as I could during the course of my career.

A few years after my first conversation with Venus, she got the job she’d been dreaming of in the Alameda County DA’s Office. She worked there for eight years, and, like me, she specialized in helping victims of sexual violence. We spoke regularly over those years. In 2014, she joined me in the attorney general’s office, and about one year into her working for me on legislative matters, I had a specific request for her. I called her into my office. “I want you to be my associate attorney general and my de facto chief of staff.” There was a pregnant pause. “Me?” she asked. “Yes, you!” I’ve had a lot of good fortune in my life, but I’m not sure I’ve ever felt as lucky as the moment she said yes. She was as wonderful at the job as I thought she would be. In addition to keeping things moving, staffing me, and being the last person in line to ensure that I was prepared for meetings and press conferences, she helped to manage a complex bureaucracy and lead major initiatives on my behalf as a legal and policy adviser. I couldn’t have asked for a better member of the team. During those years, we spent a lot of time together. We’ve continued to speak since our time in the attorney general’s office. Sometimes about her cases. Sometimes about career moves she was considering. Once about a recipe for a really amazing chicken broth.

Venus was part of the inspiration for a speech I often give, especially in front of groups of young women. I like to induct them into what I call the Role Models Club. I tell them that, whatever profession they choose, they’ve got to keep raising their hands, to share - and take credit for - their good ideas, and to know that they deserve to rise as high as they dare to climb. I also tell them that when they see others in need, they’ve got to go out of their way to lift them up. I tell them that sometimes members of the Role Models Club can feel alone. Sometimes they may think, “Do I have to carry this burden by myself?” The fact is, they will find themselves in rooms where no one else looks like them. And breaking barriers can be scary. When you break through a glass ceiling, you’re going to get cut, and it’s going to hurt. It is not without pain. But I ask them to look around at one another and hold that image in their brains and their hearts and their souls. I tell them to remember that they are never in those rooms alone - that we are all in there with them, cheering them on. And so when they stand up, when they speak out, when they express their thoughts and feelings, they should know that we’re right there in that room with them and we’ve got their back. I know Venus always has mine. The Truths We Hold: An American Journey by Kamala Harris is available to buy now

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