Overview Usha Bala Chilukuri Vance (born January 6, 1986) is an American lawyer and the wife of J.D. Vance, the Vice President-elect of the United States. She will assume the role of Second Lady of the United States on January 20, 2025, becoming the first Indian American, Telugu American, and Asian American to hold the title.
Early Life and Education Usha Bala Chilukuri was born in a suburb of San Diego, California, to Telugu-speaking Indian immigrants. Her father, Krish Chilukuri, is a mechanical engineer and lecturer at San Diego State University, and her mother, Lakshmi Chilukuri, is a molecular biologist and provost at the University of California, San Diego. She grew up in the upper-middle-class suburb of Rancho Peñasquitos and graduated from Mt. Carmel High School in 2003.
Chilukuri attended Yale University, where she graduated summa cum laude in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in history and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She then attended Clare College, Cambridge, as a Gates Cambridge Scholar, earning a Master of Philosophy in early modern history in 2010. Chilukuri returned to Yale Law School, where she earned her Juris Doctor degree in 2013.
Career After law school, Chilukuri served as a law clerk for Judge Amul Thapar of the District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky from 2013 to 2014, Judge Brett Kavanaugh on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 2014 to 2015, and Chief Justice John Roberts of the Supreme Court of the United States from 2017 to 2018. She was admitted to the District of Columbia Bar in 2019 and worked for the law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson, handling civil litigation and appeals in cases involving higher education, local government, entertainment, and technology.
In July 2024, Chilukuri resigned from her law firm job to support her husband’s vice-presidential campaign. She delivered the introductory address for J.D. Vance at the 2024 Republican National Convention and often traveled with him to campaign events.
2024 Election Campaign and Second Lady of the United States During the 2024 election campaign, Usha Vance played a significant role as an advisor to her husband and frequently appeared onstage at his campaign events. Her involvement in the campaign highlighted her commitment to supporting her husband’s political career and her dedication to public service.
Personal Life While at Yale Law School, Chilukuri met her future husband, J.D. Vance, a relationship encouraged by their professor Amy Chua. The couple married in 2014 and has three children. They reside in Ohio.
Portrayal in Media In the 2020 film adaptation of “Hillbilly Elegy,” a memoir by J.D. Vance, Usha Vance was portrayed by actress Freida Pinto
