Five things to know about Usha Vance, the first Indian-origin Second Lady of the US

Jaya Chandran, Online Editor

First Indian-origin Second Lady

Usha Vance, née Usha Bala Chilukuri is the first Indian-origin Second Lady of Indian origin in the US. She is also the first Hindu second lady. Her faith had been one of the most trending topics on Google searches, just before the Trump inauguration.

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Family of academics

Usha Vance was born in 1986 to Telugu Indian immigrants Radhakrishna and Lakshmi Chilukuri, both academics, who moved to the US in the late 1970s. She has one sister Shreya, who is a mechanical engineer.

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Education, meeting Vance

She attended Mt. Carmel High School before matriculating to Yale University, where she graduated summa cum laude with a BA in history in 2007. In 2013 she obtained a doctorate in Law from Yale University, where she met her future husband.  

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The book, influence, and the film

The Vances were introduced by their professor Amy Chua, who taught both Usha and JD at Yale Law School. JD Vance described their dynamic in his 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy and described her influence as pivotal. When the book was adapted into a film by Ron Howard in 2020, Usha was portrayed by Freida Pinto.

Usha Vance attends a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on January 19, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia. | AFP
The Second Family

The Vances are parents to seven-year-old Ewan Blaine Vance, four-year-old Vivek Vance, and three-year-old Mirabel Rose Vance. “We have code names now. Our kids had a lot of fun with that,” Usha told Fox News in August 2024 about her family’s new Secret Service protection.

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