Lily Maxwell
Usha Vance launches ‘Storytime with the Second Lady’ podcast
In an NBC News interview, Second Lady Usha Vance spoke about her relationship with the vice president.
Second lady Usha Vance has laid herself bare.
From motherhood to disagreements with Vice President JD Vance, Usha Vance got candid about aspects of “daily life” in an exclusive interview with NBC News.
While the couple don’t always agree on every issue, the “open-minded” conversations a difference of opinion evokes are “always very productive,” she said, and she provides “meaningful input” from the perspective of someone who loves him and wants him to succeed.
“I’m not his staffer,” Usha Vance said. “I’m not involved in this in any professional sense. … There’s no expectation that we are going to see eye to eye on everything.”
In addition to serving as a trusted adviser to her husband, the second lady is donning a new hat: podcaster.
Usha Vance’s podcast, “Storytime With the Second Lady,” which launched March 30, was “designed to inspire a lifelong love of reading” in younger people.
While the inspiration for starting the podcast stemmed from her own experience teaching her three children how to read, Vance also cited “worrisome” statistics about the decline in literacy rates, especially among children, as a driving force.
“If I was going to do anything, this would be the thing to focus on at this moment in time,” Vance said. “There’s just a lot that people can do in their family home without a ton of resources or effort.”
Usha Vance says podcast ‘really is just for children’
Joining Vance in the podcast studio her children helped design and decorate will be a “special reader,” who is invited to read a children’s book aloud.
Each episode features a different reader and will range anywhere between 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the interaction.
According to the second lady, the target audience for the podcast is children who are in late preschool or early elementary school. The first three episodes are available to stream on YouTube and Spotify.
Vance served as the inaugural reader, reading “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” and was followed by racing legend Danica Patrick and Paralympian Brent Poppen.
“It’s a podcast that really is just for children,” Vance told NBC News. “The notion is we will have someone come in – a special reader, we’re calling them – read a fun book, have a very short little conversation about things related to the book, maybe about their career, if they have some sort of interesting background.”
“And then invite children to pick up books on their own. It’s sort of just an advertisement for reading,” Vance added.
Costco runs, book club integral to daily life
Vance, who is expecting her fourth child, works to maintain a sense of normalcy for her and her family despite all the fanfare. Costco runs and book clubs are part of that, Vance said.
“We have all our favorite things that we get. They pick their lunchbox items from there. It’s just sort of a family tradition,” she said. “It’s the kind of stuff that you don’t want to let go when you have a family life and you move into something like the Naval Observatory.”
Vance also noted that because “people don’t recognize me all that much,” she can still get away with doing normal things, such as running to the grocery store or library, on occasion.
“But for the most part, I can just do those kinds of things,” Vance said. “And I try to make a point of it, you know, not to be afraid to get out there. And I find I’m always pleasantly surprised.”
This story has been updated.
