WASHINGTON –Usha Vancemisses plenty about her old life.
She loved being a lawyer and had aspirations beyond working at a firm. She dreams of one dayreturning to Cincinnatiand the home she shared with her husband,JD Vance, and their three children before hebecame vice president.She says that's their long-term plan.
That's also not to say she doesn't enjoy being second lady — she does. And quitting her job came with perks. She's reading long books and has developed a fitness routine.
More:JD Vance's family tree: A guide to wife Usha, kids, parents
Usha Vance: See the Second lady, lawyer, mother
"There are things that I miss and things that I'm excited to have moved on from," Vance, 39, told USA TODAY in an exclusive interview as she reflected on the life she left behind a little more than a year aftervoters chose her husbandto serve under PresidentDonald Trumpas the nation's second in command.
Usha Vance is confident and self-assured but is very much a woman who's still coming to grips with her desire to live a somewhat normal life and the constraints of being married toone of theRepublican Party's most promising politicians. His election as vice president elevated him to the very topof the discussionabout the 2028 race for the White House, which if he were to win means Usha Vance might not be able to get back to her old life as soon as she thought.
More:Meghan McCain asks Usha Vance about possibility of becoming first lady
The second couplemet atYale Law School in their twenties, before her husbandwrote a bestselling memoirthat was turned into a Netflix film, and married in 2014. They'd already hadtwo of their three childrenby the time he entered onto the national political scene.
She was a powerful lawyer in her own right long before her husband in 2022won his Senate seat with Trump's backing. The San Diego nativeclerked forChief Justice John Roberts and future Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh when he sat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Usha Vance went on to workas a civil litigator atMunger, Tolles & Olson, a top-tier firm that she left afterher husband's selectionas Trump's running mate.
The ensuing 18 months have tested their mettle and their marriage. Their interracial, interfaith relationship has been publicly picked apart,with white Christian nationalistsand fringe conservatives denigrating Usha Vance's faithand her Indian American heritage.
The second lady wasraised Hindu.She's the first person of color in the nation's 250 years to be a second spouse.
Internet gossips are increasingly spreadingunfounded rumorsthat the couple is in distress.
"I find that one of the really curious things about this life is that people really like to read the tea leaves, and there's a kind of an industry building stories about everything that they can imagine," Usha Vance said.
On one occasion, in late October while the Vances were ona trip to Israel,former White House press secretary Jen Psaki suggested that Usha Vance needs to be saved from her husband.
"I think it's disgraceful, but of course, the second lady can speak for herself," the vice president said of the remarks from Psaki, a former Biden aide and MS NOW host. JD Vance said he was "honored" to have his wife at his side.
JD Vance came under fire a week later forsaying at aTurning Point USA event that he'd like his wife toconvert to Catholicism.She had been seen without her wedding band on more than one occasion afterward, providing new fodder for wagging tongues.
The vice president brushed off Ringgate.He told NBC Newsin a Dec. 4 interview that it was unintentional and said the couple gets"a kick"out of the conjecture about their marriage.
Vance said she's indifferent, mostly. "I wear it when I wear it, and I don't when I don't," she said matter of factly in the Dec. 8 interview.
Before her husband won a Senate seat, next to no one would have noticed. And those who did probably wouldn't have cared.
"Sometimes I'm wearing it and sometimes I've just been to the gym and showered and I'm not wearing it," Usha Vance said.
While she and her husband "do find it kind of funny" that people are talking about them – Usha Vance said she doesn't "find it fruitful" to keep track of the rumors.
"I'd rather just sort of live in my marriage and in the real world and less in kind of the fever dreams that surround it. So I mean, it is kind of a family joke, but also not something that I spend very much time thinking about," Usha Vance said.
Usha speaks for herself
At the time of the USA TODAY interview, Usha Vance was preparing to host a parade of holiday parties. She had the president coming over the following afternoon for one such reception. The week before she entertained the actor Sylvester Stallone at a party celebrating his recognition as aKennedy Center honoree.
She wore a long-sleeved, printed silk chiffonSALONI blousewith a ruffled collar – the Mel B in padma emerald – paired with black slacks and patent pointed toe black flats as she gave a tour of the ground floor of the vice presidential residence.
Exclusive:Usha Vance shares holiday decor, reveals if her kids believe in Santa
Her silver and black hair hung around her shoulders. Her fingernails were bare. No polish.
Her husband was at work. The couple's children, Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel, had just left for school. The family'sone-year-old pooch,Atlas, was upstairs, in the family's living quarters. He often joins the second lady's staff meetings but her aides worried that in the current setting he'd be a distraction.
Generally speaking, Usha Vance said the house insulates sound well and the kids, who are 8, 5 and 3 treat the entire house as their home. The Vances arethe nation's first millennial second family, and their children are the youngest to live in the home since 1975.
More:The first millennial was sworn into the White House. What happened to Gen X?
An exterior hallway of photographs, including one of Usha and JD Vance with their children, stretches between a celebratory tent and the vice president's house on the grounds of the Naval Observatory on Dec. 8, 2025." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Get an exclusive look at the Vance family's holiday decor
"They have full run of the place," she said. When there are late-night party guests, "They come down, take a look, they run back up. They're really good sleepers, so they're not particularly bothered by any of it."
She talked about their traditions and said that in their family, the vice president is the baker. He made chocolate cookies for the Secret Service for Thanksgiving, she said. He hasn't done Christmas cookies with icing, but Usha Vance shared that her 41-year-old husband made a confetti cake from scratch for their family celebration.
He'll be making the birthday cake for their daughter Mirabel's birthday next. She turns 4 on Dec. 19. Usha Vance said Mirabel and the vice president made Tiramisu for Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney when he dined with themin October.JD Vance's social secretary put it on the menu as "Miramisu."
Vance also opened up about her Hindu religion, saying she grew up in southern California with friends of all religious backgrounds. "Everything you could possibly name," she said.
The Vances are planning to spend Christmas with her family. But they also want to visit Cincinnati over the kids' winter break, she said. As is always the case these days, their travel plans are contingent on what's happening in the world and where her husband needs to be to do his job.
"We've been continuing to work on our house, and we treat it as our home and look forward to every opportunity we have to be there," Usha Vance said.
She told Meghan McCain in an interview last summer that in her "dream world, eventually" she'll be able to return to Ohio and "live in my home and kind of continue my career and all those sorts of things."
In a nod to her husband's political ambitions, she told McCain, the daughter of the GOP's 2008 presidential nominee, "If that happens, in four years, I understand. If that happens, at some other point in the future, I understand. I'm just sort of along for the ride and enjoying it while I can."
Seated on leather chairs in their living room, the fireplace crackled as Usha Vance elaborated on her goals as second lady in her conversation with USA TODAY. She said she's decided on literacy as her signature issue and plans to scale up her successful summer reading program.
She's also looking at how to improve preschool literacy in homes and support schools and families with emerging readers in a slightly older age bracket.
"The way that I've decided to think about it is less about announcing an initiative that will gain a ton of attention but also raise expectations and controversy about what might or might not come from it," the second lady said. "And rather focus on projects that I think are achievable, all leading in the same direction, all contributing to the same issue, but that I can bring to completion during the time that I have in this role."
She has examples to lean on. Jill Biden,a teacher, advocated for community colleges. Karen Pence,an artist, promoted art therapy. Doug Emhoff taught at Georgetown and focused on combatting antisemitism after leaving his job as an entertainment lawyer when his wife,Kamala Harris, was elected vice president
More:Interview: Karen Pence talks 2020, her views on Trump and her job at Christian school
Usha Vance said she's taking her cues from first lady Melania Trump – who shetraveled withrecently to the Camp Lejeune military base in North Carolina.
"We really get along pretty well. I've enjoyed traveling with her a little bit and talking to her about things like raising kids in this kind of crazy life, about our interests and hobbies and that sort of thing," Usha Vance said. "And, you know, we're different people, but different people who can enjoy having conversation together. So that's been a really nice part of this experience."
She complimented the former fashion model's approach tothe role she couldeventually find herself in.
"She is very, very focused on doing things her way, and I think very effectively," Usha Vance says.
Melania Trump, 55, has made children her focus anddiscouraged bullyingin her brash, name-calling husband's first term. She's delved into international issues, more recently, using her platform to push for therepatriation of children in Russianwho were forcibly taken from Ukraine.
More:In rare address, Melania Trump says Russia will return Ukrainian children 18 and older
The first lady puts "all of her energy" into every project, Usha Vance said. "And each one I think has been quite successful."
"She's getting things done, step by step, very methodically. And so that is an inspiration for what I try to do in areas that are a little bit different from what she's focused on," the second lady added.
Is that a job that Usha Vance would ever want, first lady? "I like the job that I have right now," she replied as the interview came to an end.
Like her politician husband, Usha Vance is on message. She's living in the real world.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Usha Vance speaks for herself. She has plenty to say.
