Kamala Harris, who on Saturday became America’s first female, first Black and first South Asian vice president-elect, represents a new face of political power after an election all about who wields power and how they use it.

The California senator’s history-making win also represents the millions of women in the demographics — often overlooked, historically underrepresented and systematically ignored — who are now the recipients of that new power for the first time in the country’s 200-plus-year history.

As a Black and South Asian woman in an overwhelmingly White arena, Harris on her journey to the White House was something of a pioneer. And voters noticed.

In 2003, Harris won her first race for San Francisco district attorney, becoming the first Black woman to hold such an office in California. In 2010, she became the first Black woman elected as California attorney general, and in 2016, she became only the second Black woman ever elected as a US senator.

She often spoke of her barrier-breaking life during her presidential primary campaign, saying that she understood how being the first requires voters to “see what can be unburdened by what has been.”

Harris is a lot of things beyond her gender and her race, of course. But her mere presence brings so much with it — so much to those, of all ages, who see themselves in her.

There’s a sobering corollary to Harris’ historic win. In important ways, her success says as much about America’s political institutions as it does about her. That Harris is the first female, first Black and first South Asian vice president-elect is both an affirmation of her excellence — her skill as a debater against Mike Pence, for instance — and a reflection of the racism and sexism that punish women of color who run for executive office.

And while it’s true that Harris this week achieved yet more firsts, it’s maybe more accurate to describe these firsts as onlys — she became the only female, only Black and only South Asian vice president-elect.

Harris’ mother put it best: “Kamala, you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you’re not the last.”