Kamala Harris' incredible evolution from McDonald's worker to presidential candidate

Kamala Harris once worked the ice cream machine at McDonald's - and now, she's .

The American politician, 60, has spoken fondly about her time spent working at the fast food restaurant chain and claims her job there inspired her to support working families. Harris said she first "did fries" at the chain and worked as a cashier to help pay for her law degree at the University of California in the 1980s.

Her time at university has been described as the . At college, she met activist Lita Rosario-Richardson and they bonded over growing up with single mothers and their debates with campus Republicans. Fast forward four decades and Harris is . Here, we take a look back at her journey...

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Kamala grew up with her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, who refused an arranged marriage and immigrated from Chennai, India, to California as a teenager. Shyamala focused on her studies and forged a career as a distinguished breast cancer researcher. Her father, Donald J Harris, is a Jamaican-American economist and professor and met Shyamala through the civil rights movement.

But after five years of marriage, the couple divorced, leaving Shyamala as the primary caregiver to Kamala and her sister Maya. While they grew up engaged with their Indian heritage, they were immersed in Oakland's Black culture. In her autobiography, The Truths We Hold, Harris said: "My mother understood very well that she was raising two Black daughters.

"She knew that her adopted homeland would see Maya and me as Black girls and she was determined to make sure we would grow into confident, proud Black women." Shyamala sadly died from colon cancer in 2009, but her ambition and drive left a lasting impact.

"Shyamala Harris was no more than five feet tall, but if you ever met her you would think she was seven feet tall," Kamala once said on . "She had such spirit and tenacity and I'm thankful every day to have been raised by her."

Between her freshman and sophomore years in college, Kamala worked at McDonald's, frying fries, working the ice cream machine and staffing the cash register.

After graduating with a law degree, Kamala started out at the Alameda County District Attorney's Office and in 2003, became the district attorney - the top prosecutor - for San Francisco. She was already making firsts then, being the first woman and first Black person in the coveted role.

She then leveraged a reputation as one of the Democratic party's rising stars, and by 2017, was elected as California's junior US senator. But her presidential bid in 2020 was unsuccessful. Within a year, her campaign had died but propelled her back into the global spotlight.

The leader has always had the backing of her family, particularly from her sister. Maya was just 17 when she fell pregnant with her daughter Meena, but she didn't let that stand in the way of her career goals. She went on to become a lawyer, public policy advocate, and a television commentator and served as an advisor during Hilary Clinton's 2016 presidential run.

Her daughter Meena is a Harvard graduate, lawyer and children's book author and has dedicated her Instagram feed to her aunt's campaign. She and her husband Nikolas Ajagu have two adorable young daughters who have become the stars of the show. A video of ambitious little Amara Ajuga sitting on her great-aunt's lap as Kamala reassured her that she could one day be president, went viral.

And Meena said that for Kamala, her relationship with the girls is one of her most prized. "My Aunt Kamala takes *very seriously* her role as a great aunt in helping to shape my daughters," she said. "If she had her way, the girls (only two and four years old) would be on the campaign trail with her every day."

Kamala does not have children of her own but is stepmother to her husband Doug Emhoff's kids - Cole, 29, and Ella, 24. She is even good friends with their mother, Doug's ex-wife Kerstin Emhoff, and has said that being 'Momala' to her stepchildren is the role 'that means the most' to her.

Then-Senator Harris married the lawyer in 2014 and in an interview with Elle in 2019, she explained why she has her own name for being their stepmother. "When Doug and I got married, Cole, Ella, and I agreed that we didn't like the term 'stepmum'. Instead they came up with the name 'Momala'."

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