Presidential candidate Donald Trump’s announcement about his preferred Vice President may have suddenly thrown JD Vance into the limelight, but Mr Vance has been (moderately) famous for a while now. In fact, he already has a Netflix original based on his autobiography!<br /><br />From being a “never a Trump guy” and finding him “reprehensible” to running for the position of Vice President on the Republican party ticket with Trump, JD Vance has come a long way in his political career. Amid the fresh wave of interest and scrutiny, his past, including the romantic bits, has also come to light.<br /><div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="111765181" title="Trump goes all in by selecting JD Vance as his MAGA heir apparent" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>His wife Usha Vance, nee Chilukuri, embodies a unique blend of Indian cultural heritage and American legal acumen. Born to Indian immigrants, her upbringing in San Diego, California, was steeped in values of education and hard work, she has said herself. These foundational principles guided her academic pursuits at Yale University, where she excelled both as a scholar and as a leader, holding prestigious editorial roles at prominent law journals.<br /><br /><h2>A Yale fairytale</h2>Usha served as the managing editor of the Yale Journal of Law &amp; Technology and the Executive Development Editor of The Yale Law Journal, and this is where she first crossed paths with JD Vance around 2010.<br /><div type="twitter" handle="signulll" handlename="signulll" favoritecount="0" retweetcount="0" id="1812929637917552934"></div>While it was their intellectual journeys that intertwined first, their connection deepened as they organised discussions on the social challenges facing white America in 2013.<br /><br />A year later, after graduating from law school, Vance and Chilukuri got married in 2014, as per the <em>Sun</em>.<br /><div type="twitter" handle="homam108" handlename="homam108" favoritecount="0" retweetcount="0" id="1813060653936222672"></div>In 2016, he published what would go on to become his bestselling autobiography called <em><keyword id="7761905" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="hillbilly-elegy" source="Orion">HillBilly Elegy</keyword>: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis. </em>As per Vance, the memoir is about “what goes on in the lives of real people when the industrial economy goes south” and details the “social isolation, poverty, and addiction that afflict poor white communities.”<br /><div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="111768626" title="JD Vance said a dinner with elite CEOs made him realize he might end up hating what he&amp;#39;d become" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>The autobiography also talks about Vance’s complicated childhood, and his mother and grandfather’s addictions, among other things. It details how he joined the Marines and was barely able to afford college. As mentioned before, you can watch the 2020 movie <em>Hillbilly Elegy</em> based on the book on Netflix. The film has actors like Gabriel Basso and Freida Pinto in titular roles.<br /><br />In this memoir, JD Vance credits Usha as his "Yale spirit guide," highlighting her pivotal role in shaping his intellectual pursuits and encouraging him to explore uncharted opportunities.<br /><br />Hot on the success of his memoir, Vance and Usha welcomed their first child in 2017. This was followed by two other children in 2020 and 2021, respectively.<br /><div type="twitter" handle="JDVance1" handlename="JDVance1" favoritecount="0" retweetcount="0" id="1473321165276028929"></div><br /><h2>Present-day Vance and Usha</h2>As for the present day, JD Vance is a top nominee for Vice President of the United States should Trump win the elections. Usha Vance, who will become the second lady of the country in this scenario, is currently a litigator at the prestigious law firm Munger, Tolles, &amp; Olson. With practices in San Francisco and Washington DC, Usha is licensed to practice law in California, Ohio, and the District of Columbia. <br /><br />As JD Vance now steps into the national political arena, Usha's influence is poised to extend further. Her understanding of both American and Indian cultures positions her uniquely to foster international relations, a role that could prove invaluable in navigating the complexities of global diplomacy.<br /><div type="twitter" handle="maggieNYT" handlename="maggieNYT" favoritecount="0" retweetcount="0" id="1805942859507359815"></div>Recently, Usha Vance spoke candidly about her husband's journey and their shared values in an interview, offering a glimpse into the personal motivations driving their public endeavours. Reflecting on JD Vance's relentless work ethic and creative vision, she underscored his commitment to making a positive impact — a commitment that resonates deeply with her own upbringing and values.<br /><br /><div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="111770462" title="JD Vance makes clear he&amp;#39;ll be a staunch Trump loyalist as VP" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>

A timeline of US Vice President candidate JD Vance and his Indian-origin wife Usha Chilukuri’s lovestory

Inside the relationship of JD Vance and Usha Chilukuri Vance, the newest GOP power couple who met as Yale law students

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Since law school, JD Vance's wife has been tight-lipped about her political beliefs.</li><li>Usha Vance was a registered Democrat until 2014 and worked at what some viewed as a progressive law firm.</li></ul><p>Usha Vance's classmates at Yale Law School didn't know much about her politics.</p><p>"She was more tight-lipped, at least in my experience, with her political views," said Marvin Lim, a Democrat in the Georgia House of Representatives who also graduated in 2013. He wasn't close with either of the Vances, but said that they "certainly communicated a great deal."</p><p>"I don't remember ever having a political conversation with Usha," Elliot Forhan, a Democrat representative in Ohio who took a small class with Usha but wasn't close friends with her, said. "She just didn't really show her cards with respect to the political stuff."</p><p>Usha Chilukuri met <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-vice-president-jd-vance-career-facts-2024-7">JD Vance</a> while at Yale Law School. The two were in the same small group of approximately 15 students who take all of their classes together, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/01/style/usha-jd-vance-ohio.html">New York Times </a>reported. They got married in 2014, one year after graduating, and Lim said that their affection for each other was obvious. Less obvious, however, is Usha Vance's political orientation and relationship to the newfound national spotlight.</p><p>Usha Vance grew up in a suburb of San Diego, raised by a mechanical engineer and a biologist. One of her family friends, Vikram Rao, told The Times that she was a natural and kind leader, selecting what games they played and setting the rules by age five.</p><p>After getting her undergraduate degree from Yale, she studied copyright law at Cambridge. One of her friends there, Gabriel Winant, said that her social circle was left of center and even dotted with the occasional leftist, The Times reported.</p><p>While her political views weren't recognizable to casual peers at <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jd-vance-roommate-says-published-donald-trump-america-hitler-message-2024-7">Yale Law School</a>, her leadership was evident. Both Forhan and Lim said that she was not particularly loud in class, but did not fade into the background, either. Her drive didn't seem to extend to politics.</p><p>"She didn't express political ambitions, but she did have ambition," Lim told Business Insider, noting that she went on to have prestigious judicial clerkships after graduation. "We knew those were things she wanted to do, but not political ambitions."</p><p>JD Vance's spokespeople did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.</p><h2 id="b1960cea-d38f-449a-a6ce-5bc66a72ceb5"><strong>From a "woke" law firm to conservative clerkships, Vance's political orientations remained murky after law school.</strong></h2><p>After graduating from law school, Vance <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jd-vance-wife-usha-deep-scotus-ties-roberts-kavanaugh-2024-7">clerked for a pre-SCOTUS Brett Kavanaugh</a> from 2014-2015 and Chief Justice John Roberts from 2017-2018. In addition, she worked at the law firm Munger, Tolles &amp; Olson, but resigned on Monday when her husband became the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-trump-selected-jd-dance-running-mate-vice-president-2024-7">GOP nominee for vice president</a>. The law firm has since removed her biography, and with it all of her past cases, though the website used to describe her as "a skilled litigator specializing in higher education, local government, and technology sectors."</p><p>The magazine <em>The American Lawyer</em> described Munger, Tolles &amp; Olson as "cool, woke" in 2019, with a "radically progressive" policy on gender and racial diversity in hiring, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/who-is-jd-vance-wife-usha-vance-former-scotus-clerk">Vanity Fair</a> reported. Despite his wife's workplace environment, JD Vance championed the "Dismantle DEI Act" in June, 2024, calling the DEI agenda "destructive." In 2022, two colleagues at the firm described Usha Vance as liberal or moderate to The Times.</p><p>To make her political affiliations even murkier, Vance was a registered Democrat until 2014, The Times reported. Yet she shifted to the right alongside her husband — in 2021, Federal Election Commission records reveal that she donated to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/abe-hamadeh-blake-masters-primary-arizona-trump-2024-6">Blake Masters</a>, a conservative Senate candidate in Arizona.</p><h2 id="67fe0e06-0b6b-4054-ad51-ef9e9c6ba073"><strong>Vance hasn't always seemed eager to be center stage.</strong></h2><p>When JD Vance was himself running for Senate, Usha Vance appeared in his very <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=437081075041425">first campaign ad</a>, sitting in front of a bookshelf and talking about <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jd-vance-family-policies-birth-rates-childcare-tax-credits-2024-7">their three children</a>. In an interview with Newsmax during the campaign, she said that her husband has not changed in the many years of their relationship.</p><p>After her initial appearance, Vance largely faded out of her husband's campaign, but became more active as <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jd-vance-18-month-senate-career-record-vice-president-2024-7">voting day neared</a>. In a recent interview on <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.foxnews.com/video/6355707051112">Fox &amp; Friends</a>, Usha Vance seemed ambivalent about taking on a public political role. During the conversation in June, she didn't wholly embrace the possibility of becoming the Second Lady.</p><p>"I don't know that anyone is ever ready for that kind of scrutiny," she said. "I'm not raring to change anything about our lives are right now, but I believe in JD and I really love him, so we'll just sort of see what happens."</p><p>She declined to specify what issues she would tackle should she end up in the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jd-vance-first-interview-donald-trump-vice-president-2024-7">White House</a>, saying that "we might be getting a little ahead of ourselves."</p><p>While Usha Vance's political orientations and interest in life as a national figure remain foggy, her devotion to her husband has seemed strong since her days at Yale Law School.</p><p>"In terms of political beliefs, she held that close to her chest, but in terms of being supportive of JD, that does not surprise me," Lim said. <br /><br />Usha Vance is scheduled to speak at the Republican National Convention tonight, just before her husband. As he has moved into the spotlight, it seems that she is starting to, quite literally, as well.</p>

What we know about Usha Vance's politics

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Former President Donald Trump named Sen. JD Vance of Ohio as his running mate on Monday. </li><li>But Trump isn't the first person to have spotted Vance's potential.</li></ul><p>Sen. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-vice-president-jd-vance-career-facts-2024-7">JD Vance</a> of Ohio has come a long way since graduating from Yale Law School in 2013.</p><p>The former venture capitalist-turned-politician's career trajectory got a big boost on Monday when former President <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-luck-classified-documents-assassination-debate-2024-7">Donald Trump</a> named him <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-trump-selected-jd-dance-running-mate-vice-president-2024-7">running mate</a>.</p><p>"As Vice President, JD will continue to fight for our Constitution, stand with our troops, and will do everything he can to help me make America great again," Trump said in a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/112792060910716829">Truth Social post</a>.</p><p>Vance does have benefactors, like tech billionaire <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-peter-thiel-svb-facebook-trump-biography-2023-3">Peter Thiel</a>. But before Thiel, Vance caught a big break when he was still in law school.</p><p>The Marine veteran enrolled at Yale Law School in 2010 after graduating from Ohio State University.</p><p>In his 2016 memoir "Hillbilly Elegy," Vance likened his year at the Ivy League institution to attending a kind of "nerd Hollywood." Besides earning his law degree, Yale would also be where the seeds of his political career would be sown.</p><p>It was at Yale where Vance gained a mentor in the form of his contract law professor, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amy-chua-tiger-mom-yale-law-ban-suspension-2021-5">Amy Chua</a>, 61.</p><p>Chua, who earned her bachelor's and law degree from Harvard, pursued a career in corporate law before leaving for academia. She first taught at Duke Law School before joining Yale in 2001.</p><p>Chua, who gained notoriety for her 2011 memoir "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother," encouraged Vance to write "Hillbilly Elegy."</p><p>"I always thought JD was destined for great things, and that going the conventional route would actually slow him down," Chua said of Vance in a 2017 interview with <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/06/hillbilly-elegy-mentor/529443/">The Atlantic</a>.</p><p>Representatives for Vance and Chua did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.</p><h2 id="573cf4bc-a62a-47aa-9e82-6608a431b0af">Vance's bestselling memoir "Hillbilly Elegy" wouldn't have existed without Chua's help</h2><div type="image" title="A copy of JD Vance's memoir &quot;Hillbilly Elegy.&quot;" height="3000" width="2000" msid="111788656" hostid="261"></div><p>Besides reading Vance's drafts, Chua introduced him to her own literary agent, Tina Bennett. In the "Acknowledgments" section of "Hillbilly Elegy," Vance thanked both Bennett and Chua for their support.</p><p>"Besides Tina, the person who deserves the most credit for this book's existence is Amy Chua, my Yale contracts professor, who convinced me that both my life and the conclusions I drew from it were worth putting down on paper," Vance wrote.</p><p>"She has the wisdom of a respected academic and the confident delivery of a Tiger Mother, and there were many times that I needed (and benefited) from both," he continued.</p><p>Chua was also a huge cheerleader for Vance's book, which she helped to promote.</p><p>"When the book first came out, she probably emailed every single television producer and personality in the United States of America," Vance told The Atlantic in 2017.</p><p>"It's true, I emailed everybody. There were these creepy emails to people like Tom Brokaw, with lots of smiley faces and exclamation points," Chua said in the same interview.</p><p>The efforts ended up paying off, with "Hillbilly Elegy" becoming a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/11/books/review-in-hillbilly-elegy-a-compassionate-analysis-of-the-poor-who-love-trump.html">bestseller</a> in 2016. The book has sold at least 1.6 million copies to date, according to market research company Circana, the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://apnews.com/article/jd-vance-hillbilly-elegy-trump-vp-candidate-1aab89b90ce7e8534556716930b23a1c">AP</a> reports.</p><p>Vance's public profile was boosted even further after Trump's victory in 2016's presidential election.</p><p>Some <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-kentucky-poverty-jd-vance-ohio-52901ab3819b5da35dda7b7921f6841a">news </a><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.vogue.com/article/hillbilly-elegy-author-jd-vance-on-trump">outlets</a> even started calling Vance the "Trump whisperer" because of the book's focus on the poverty and social decay that was afflicting America's <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/midwest-america-cities-downtown-crisis-office-apocalypse-urban-doom-loop-2023-6">Rust Belt states</a>.</p><h2 id="7e85bd84-dcfc-4f51-9870-8afcdb898d4e">Vance also got some relationship advice from Chua</h2><div type="image" title="JD Vance (right) with his wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance (left) at the 2024 Republican National Convention." height="3036" width="4554" msid="111788654" hostid="261"></div><p>In his memoir, Vance said he'd asked Chua to recommend him for a federal judge clerkship. Chua agreed, though she ultimately tried to dissuade him from proceeding with his application.</p><p>"I think you're doing this for the credential, which is fine, but the credential doesn't actually serve your career goals," Chua told Vance, who was already in a relationship with his law school classmate Usha Chilukuri, per Vance's memoir.</p><p>"This clerkship is the type of thing that destroys relationships. If you want my advice, I think you should prioritize Usha and figure out a career move that actually suits you," Chua said.</p><p>Vance ended up following Chua's advice. He married Chilukuri in 2014, a year after graduating from Yale.</p><p>"Amy's advice stopped me from making a life-altering decision. It prevented me from moving a thousand miles away from the person I eventually married," Vance wrote in his memoir.</p><p>"Most important, it allowed me to accept my place at this unfamiliar institution — it was okay to chart my own path and okay to put a girl above some shortsighted ambition. My professor gave me permission to be me," he added.</p><p>That said, a lot has happened after Vance left Yale to start his career.</p><p>Vance, who told a former Yale classmate in 2016 that he thought Trump could become "<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jd-vance-once-thought-trump-could-become-americas-hitler-2022-4">America's Hitler,</a>" has since metamorphosed into a devout supporter of the former president.</p><p>In 2022, Vance was elected as Ohio's junior senator after securing <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-vance-ohio-senate-endorsement-dismissed-phone-calls-republican-resistance-2022-4">Trump's endorsement</a>.</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I'm incredibly honored to have President Trump's support. He was an incredible fighter for hard working Americans in the White House, he will be again, and I'll fight for the America First Agenda in the Senate. <a href="https://t.co/s3d3JhTgBC">https://t.co/s3d3JhTgBC</a></p>— J.D. Vance (@JDVance1) <a href="https://twitter.com/JDVance1/status/1515075856502177793?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 15, 2022</a></blockquote><p>It is not clear how Chua feels about Vance's abrupt turn toward Trump and the politics now he represents. The celebrity professor <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/yale-professors-reportedly-told-students-kavanaugh-hires-attractive-clerks-2018-9">came under fire</a> in 2018 after she <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/kavanaugh-is-a-mentor-to-women-1531435729">endorsed</a> Brett Kavanaugh when Trump nominated him to the Supreme Court.</p><p>Chua, who continues to teach at Yale, declined to comment on her one-time protégé's embrace of Trumpism in an interview with the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.ft.com/content/6628517c-56db-4fa3-a414-bf6b9e349373">Financial Times' Edward Luce</a> in 2021.</p><p>"I never turn on my students," she said.</p>

Meet the woman who helped boost JD Vance from Ohio obscurity to 'Hillbilly Elegy' superstardom

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Melania Trump attended the fourth night of the Republican National Convention.</li><li>The former first lady wore a Christian Dior skirt suit in a classic Republican red.</li></ul><p>After skipping the first three days of the 2024 <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/republican-national-convention-rnc-biggest-moments-speeches-photos-2024-7">Republican National Convention</a>, Melania Trump arrived on night four in a rare campaign appearance.</p><p>The former first lady entered Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee to enthusiastic applause, wearing a Christian Dior skirt suit in the classic Republican red also worn by <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-jr-kimberly-guilfoyle-timeline-2021-2">Donald Trump Jr.'s fiancée, Kimberly Guilfoyle</a>, and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jd-vance-wife-usha-vance-relationship-trump-politics-2024-7">JD Vance's wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance</a>.</p><p>Melania Trump previously wore the red blazer in 2017 while visiting French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, in Paris, but paired it with a different skirt for the convention.</p><p>She waved at the crowd before taking her spot in the VIP box next to Vance.</p><div type="image" title="Melania Trump in the VIP box at the Republican National Convention." height="683" width="1024" msid="111851288" hostid="261"></div><p>Since Donald Trump announced his reelection run in November 2022, Melania Trump has largely remained absent from the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/melania-trump-campaign-return-absence-2024-4">campaign trail</a>. She has made a few rare public appearances, attending <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/melania-trump-attends-rosalynn-carter-funeral-former-first-ladies-2023-11">Rosalynn Carter's funeral</a> in November 2023 and speaking at a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/melania-trump-immigrant-first-lady-speech-national-archives-2023-12">naturalization ceremony</a> at the National Archives in December 2023.</p><p>After an assassination attempt nearly took her husband's life on Saturday, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/melania-trump-rally-shooter-monster-statement-2024-7">Melania Trump released a statement</a> calling the shooter a "monster who recognized my husband as an inhuman political machine."</p><p>"When I watched that violent bullet strike my husband, Donald, I realized my life, and Barron's life, were on the brink of devastating change," she wrote. On Thursday night, she was not accompanied by their son, Barron.</p><div type="image" title="Melania Trump at the RNC, wearing a red skirt suit." height="1728" width="2592" msid="111851289" hostid="261"></div><p>She did not speak at the convention, but Donald Trump thanked her in his speech for her "beautiful" letter "calling for national unity."</p><p>"It really took the Republican Party by surprise, I will tell you," he said.</p><div type="image" title="Donald Trump kisses Melania Trump after speaking at the RNC." height="727" width="1024" msid="111852466" hostid="261"></div><p>Melania Trump joined him onstage after his address, which was the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-rnc-speech-assassination-attempt-takeaways-2024-7">longest convention acceptance speech</a> in modern history.</p>

You Searched For "who is usha chilukuri" and got 5 results

A timeline of US Vice President candidate JD Vance and his Indian-origin wife Usha Chilukuri’s lovestory

Ashmita Gupta

Inside the relationship of JD Vance and Usha Chilukuri Vance, the newest GOP power couple who met as Yale law students

Talia Lakritz

What we know about Usha Vance's politics

Alice Tecotzky,Joshua Nelken-Zitser

Meet the woman who helped boost JD Vance from Ohio obscurity to 'Hillbilly Elegy' superstardom

Kwan Wei Kevin Tan

Photos show Melania Trump's rare public appearance on the last day of the Republican National Convention

Talia Lakritz