Who is Usha Vance? What to know about the lawyer married to JD Vance

JD Vance was sworn in as the United States vice president on Monday with his wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance, and their three young children by his side.

As the vice president and President Donald Trump took the spotlight during the inauguration day, Google was buzzing with a trending question: “Who is J.D. Vance’s wife?”

Here is what to know about the new second lady and Yale-educated lawyer.

Vance, 39, was raised in San Diego, by Indian immigrant parents. Her mother is a biologist and provost at the University of California at San Diego; her father is an engineer, according to the Associated Press.

She earned her bachelor’s degree from Yale University and a master’s degree from the University of Cambridge, through the Gates Cambridge scholarship.

After Cambridge, she went to Yale Law School, where she met her husband, JD Vance, who was also studying law.

In his 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, Vance said the two got to know each other through a class assignment, where he soon “fell hard” for his writing partner.

“In a place that always seemed a little foreign, Usha’s presence made me feel at home,” he wrote.

They graduated in 2013 and wed the following year.

After law school, Usha Vance worked as a law clerk for Brett Kavanaugh while he was serving as an appeals court judge in Washington, D.C. Kavanaugh has since become a Supreme Court justice.

She also worked as a law clerk for Chief Justice John Roberts.

Trending Now

According to her LinkedIn page, she was a trial lawyer for the Munger, Tolles and Olson law firm in Ohio from January 2019 to July 2024. Vance left the law firm after her husband was chosen as Trump’s running mate.

“Usha has informed us she has decided to leave the firm,” Munger, Tolles & Olson said in a statement. “Usha has been an excellent lawyer and colleague, and we thank her for her years of work and wish her the best in her future career.”

In her free time, Vance is a trustee of the Washington National Opera and has served on the board of the Gates Cambridge Alumni Association and as secretary of the board of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, according to the White House.

— with files from the Associated Press