Kamala Harris said she has followed her mother's advice every day.
US Vice-President elect Kamala Harris shared a heartfelt note for her mother on Instagram today talking about her influence in her life. She shared three photos from her childhood with her mother and sister on Instagram.
Ms Harris, the first woman and south Asian to reach the top post, said in her post that her parents went to America in pursuit of a dream for themselves, for her and her sister, Maya.
In the Instagram photos, the first one features Ms Harris, a baby, being fed milk by her mother. The second is a collage of two photos from a time when Ms Harris and her sister were children. The third is of their mother holding the young sisters' hands standing on a pavement.
Ms Harris' father was from Jamaica and her mother Shyamala Gopalan Harris was from India. She was one of the few women of colour to have a position as a scientist at the University of California in Berkeley, the 56-year-old said in her post about her mother.
"She was all of five feet, but if you ever met her you would think she was seven feet tall. It's because of her that I was raised in a community where we were taught to see a world beyond just ourselves. To be conscious and compassionate about the struggles of all people," Ms Harris writes about her mother.
"My mother always used to say, "don't sit around and complain about things, do something,"" she added in her post.
Kamala Harris said she has followed her mother's advice every day.
Ms Harris is set to enter the White House and take charge in about a week. She added that she will share stories of people, places and moments that have influenced her life this week.