What keeps Ella Emhoff motivated during tumultuous times

With politics among the biggest stressors for Americans, and the political gender gap growing among young people, it can be hard to stay motivated when divisions feel more contentious than ever.

Few people understand that like Ella Emhoff, the daughter of former U.S. Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and stepdaughter of former Vice President Kamala Harris.

Getting offline is a good first step.

“I think what has kept me the most invigorated around politics and just social change is seeing everyone else empowered by it, coming to things like ZCON and being able to talk about it,” Emhoff recently told CNBC Make It at the Gen Z-focused conference put on by United Talent Agency. “When we’re online, it can feel so insular and feel like everything’s happening to us, whether it be with immigration, with wars, with genocide, with the climate.”

With so much happening, Emhoff says she finds power in focusing on small changes within her control, and actions she can take toward them.

“Small changes impact big change,” she says. “Even going and volunteering at a shelter or with dogs or feeding the homeless, anything like that is going to create positive impact. The more you engage with that in your day-to-day, bigger things will feel more achievable.”

These small and ongoing projects of purpose are more achievable and enjoyable no matter the result, versus large and intangible goals, Dr. Jordan Grumet, a hospice medical director and author writing about purpose, previously told Make It.

On the other hand, scrolling and consuming every bad headline won’t do much for your emotions or your feelings of being able to enact small changes. “Get off your phone, engage in your community,” Emhoff says. “It’s going to make you feel better. I promise.”

The 26-year-old says turning to offline creative pursuits, like her work as a textile artist and her recently relaunched Soft Hands Knit Club, helps too.

Working in a creative field has its own challenges. But Emhoff says her mother, Kerstin, who works as a film producer and heads a creative entertainment studio, has always given her the best outlook on her career.

“One of the best things she’s told me is just don’t give up,” she says. “When you’re in a non-traditional career path like I am, it’s really easy to want to give up when the stream of income is lost, or you’re feeling like your engagement is down and you want to just quit and get a normal job. I love to threaten her that I’m going to go and just get a corporate job, but she’s always been a really big proponent of the message I have in mental health and crafting and community, and it’s pushed me a lot farther than I ever thought.”

Emhoff says she’s also gotten good advice from her stepmother Harris, especially about recovering from a setback after losing the 2024 presidential election.

“After she gave her concession speech, she sat down with us and said, ‘This is not the end. This is just a bump in the road.’ And I really do believe that,” Emhoff says. “There have been hard times before. We are in an especially hard time. But we have gotten out of hard times, and the only way to get through that is with believing and not letting up.”

“I think we collectively need to get into that same headspace of just kicking butt,” she adds.

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