Kerstin Emhoff is the CEO of production company Prettybird and has been responsible for numerous music videos and commercials, including Beyoncé's "Formation" and an upcoming documentary about the political landscape in Georgia.
Kerstin is also the ex-wife of Doug Emhoff, the man married to the vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris. And frustratingly, it seems that this past marriage is more or less what anyone wants to talk to Kerstin about.
While speaking to Politico, Kerstin explained, "I don't want to just be the famous ex-wife. I am accomplished in my own right."
Kerstin went on to rail against the media: "I went from building a company from scratch and just trying to get attention to my company, my partners, my directors, the work that we're doing non-stop to you Google me and it's like crazy websites of '5 things you don't know about Doug Emhoff's ex-wife' or 'Kamala Harris's Husband's ex-wife.'"
The situation is exhausting for Kerstin, as she would prefer the focus to be on what she has built instead of her former marriage, which lasted from 1992 to 2008.
And for good reason: She's done a lot.
In 1994, Kerstin was working as the production manager for a Nine Inch Nails video while pregnant with her son, Cole. She shared that the experience was eye-opening:
"I'm like this naive girl from Minnesota and looking at things that I'm like ‘What is that?’ and getting Trent Reznor to explain them to me."
Kerstin started her own company in 2007 and has gone on to work on projects for Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé, Netflix, Beats by Dre, and Colin Kaepernick.
Melina Matsoukas, who directed "Formation," also spoke up in favor of Kerstin: "And she's been a great partner for me in that as well. I'm always up against it, and sometimes exploited because I check all the boxes, and she's been a great protection in that and also taught me how to speak for myself."
Of course, the conversation did eventually turn to the two elephants in the room: Doug Emhoff and Vice President Kamala Harris. Kerstin recalled meeting Doug while she was working as a waitress.
"I would have never thought that I would have married a lawyer," she said. "I was a film student and I grew up in a performing arts school, but you know I like really smart people, and he's incredibly smart and we connected very quickly."
She also shed a little more light on her relationship with her ex-husband and his wife, sharing that they all used to exercise together: "When she was [California attorney general] and senator, I'd meet them at the SoulCycle by their house, and we’d take a class together. There's just no chance of doing that now … . We've talked about that but I think it would torture Secret Service."
