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Who is Meena Harris? Kamala Harris' niece slams 'little insecure men' who trolled Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff

'The little insecure men saying that 'Second Gentleman' is emasculating prove just how much we all need to see and normalize'

Meena Harris, the niece of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris has slammed the men who were trolling her uncle for becoming the first "Second Gentleman" of the nation — a landmark title that was created after her aunt made history by becoming the first woman to hold the second-highest office in the land as well as first the first woman of color and of Asian-American descent to do so.

"The little insecure men saying that 'Second Gentleman' is emasculating prove just how much we all need to see and normalize — GASP! — men supporting powerful women," Meena wrote on Twitter, hours after her uncle, Doug Emhoff, got his first-ever created 'Second Gentleman' Twitter account. 

While Emhoff's more official "@SecondGentleman" account has not yet been used — he has no tweets and follows no one — he has nonetheless already gathered almost half a million followers in the short time since the account went up. The account's bio currently reads, "Future Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff. Devoted dad. Proud husband to Vice President-elect Harris."

Followers and fans flocked to Meena's tweet to express how proud they were of her uncle. "I look forward to 'First Gentleman,' tbh," one of them wrote, while another said, "I think dougie is awesome! yay for the first second gentleman! @DouglasEmhoff @KamalaHarris." A third commented, "'Second Gentleman' sounds pretty badass to me." Another user added, "I, for one, am so ecstatic for our nation and for @DouglasEmhoff and Madam VP. He will be an excellent first Second Gentleman!"

A commenter tweeted, "First partner - as used in CA! - is pretty great, too." Another noted, "I hope our first second gentlemen knows how much he’s doing for men and boys! I love it and the way he’s imbracing his position!" One more said, "Make no mistake. @DouglasEmhoff has the cajones to support and enable one strong and powerful @KamalaHarris. Cannot wait for Wednesday!"

Who is Meena Harris?

It's only natural that being surrounded by strong and accomplished women would make you an over-achiever, and Meena Harris is no different. To give you an idea of her family tree, her late grandmother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, was a prominent breast cancer researcher, civil rights activist, and single mother of two daughters. Kamala Harris, her aunt, made her way from being a California Senator to the first female Vice President. Meena's mother, Maya Harris, is a civil rights lawyer and public policy advocate, who once led the nation's largest ACLU affiliate.

"I grew up surrounded by these strong, brilliant women who showed me what it meant to show up in the world with purpose and intention," Meena told Glamour earlier this year. "I just idolized them — these incredible women who were all around me."

Although she is just 36, Meena already has her handful at home and at work. The Harvard-educated lawyer is the founder and CEO of Phenomenal, a female-powered organization that brings awareness to various social causes.  She is also a best-selling children's book author and a mother to two young daughters. She shares the same birthday as Kamala Harris and was extremely close to her grandmother when the latter was alive. "She was deliberate, and I know this may seem cliché, but she was deliberate about teaching us that we could be anything, that we could do anything," Maya told Glamour. "And we were really made to believe that."

And these weren't just words that she only heard of; she witnessed it too. "I had a 17-year-old single mom," she told Harper's Bazaar. "So I got to see her go to law school. I got to see her go through her first law firm job. And same [with] Kamala. I saw so much of my mother and my aunt, and them becoming powerful women in the world starting in their 20s. I had a front-row seat for all of it."