As US Second Lady, Usha Vance will fill a role traditionally relegated to the sidelines of White House life, a position that may suit a political spouse who has never sought the limelight.
However, her friends say the 39-year-old has played an active, influential role in the rapid rise of her husband, US Vice President-elect JD Vance.
A hard-working child of immigrants, she has moved through the prestigious institutions of Cambridge, Yale, and the Supreme Court to reach the pinnacle of public life. For many admirers, she represents a living embodiment of the American Dream.
Even JD Vance, 40, appears awed by his wife’s elite credentials. The former Ohio senator has admitted that her accomplishments leave him feeling “humbled.”
Usha Vance (née Chilukuri) grew up in the working-class suburbs of San Diego, California. She was born to a mechanical engineer father and a molecular biologist mother, both of whom had immigrated to the US from Andhra Pradesh, India.
Usha earned a BA in history from Yale University and later became a Gates Scholar at Cambridge University, where she completed an MPhil in early modern history.
In 2010, while studying at Yale Law School, she met JD Vance when they both joined a discussion group on “social decline in white America.”
This experience influenced Vance’s bestselling 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy, which recounts his childhood in the white working-class US Rust Belt. The book was adapted into a 2020 film directed by Ron Howard.
In his book, Vance writes that he “fell hard” for Usha at Yale, calling her a “genetic anomaly” because she embodied so many ideal qualities.
Vance recalls breaking “every rule of modern dating” by telling her he was in love after just one date.
Classmates remember Usha as someone who stood out in the fiercely competitive Ivy League law environment for her willingness to help others.
Charles Tyler, now a law professor, told the BBC that Usha Vance would take time to advise fellow students on how to apply for the coveted judicial clerkships she herself aspired to.
Another classmate, who spoke to the BBC on condition of anonymity, recalls Usha Vance’s lack of competitiveness.
“She was an excellent student, top of our law school class,” she says. “And sometimes, students like that want to keep an edge over others. But Usha was always willing to share her outlines. They were perfectly organized—color-coded, the works.”
Tyler notes that Usha Vance holds significant influence over her husband, although they “have a very equal partnership.”
Another friend agrees.
“She’s always been a sounding board for him,” she says. “And she’s been his spirit guide pretty much since Yale.”
Usha Vance’s political views have sparked much speculation.
While her husband has frequently criticized “woke” ideas that he associates with Democrats, she was a registered Democrat as recently as a decade ago. Until last summer, she worked as a trial lawyer at the San Francisco law firm Munger Tolles & Olson, which is known for its “radically progressive” reputation.
Yet, Usha once clerked for Brett Kavanaugh, now a Supreme Court justice, on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, and also clerked for Chief Justice John Roberts—both pillars of the conservative majority on the Supreme Court.
One thing the Vances clearly agree on is the importance of family.
The couple married in Kentucky in 2014 and have three children: two sons, Ewan and Vivek, and a daughter, Mirabel.
Usha Vance told Fox News last August that her husband’s focus on the cultural importance of a loving home stems partly from his own upbringing. She added that it also comes from “knowing that the stability and calm I provide in our family life comes from all the support I had, the faith that things would be OK, because I had people behind me.”
In India, Usha Vance’s remarkable life story fills her relatives with immense pride.
Her great-grand-aunt in Andhra Pradesh shared with the BBC that she is not surprised by the incoming US second lady’s success, given her family’s long history of Hindu scholars.
Chilukuri Santhamma, a physics professor from Andhra Pradesh, remarked, “Not everyone can climb to the top in a foreign country and achieve such accolades. Fortunately, Usha has reached a position that happens for one in a million.”
