The second lady has taken on a new project to address the country’s decline in literacy rates among children. She also opened up about private discussions – and sometimes, disagreements – with her husband, Vice President JD Vance.
“Storytime with the Second Lady” is Usha Vance’s new podcast released Monday on YouTube and Spotify. She described the podcast as “an advertisement for reading” and a venture to “get people thinking about books again as a form of entertainment” in a wide-ranging interview with NBC ahead of the podcast launch.
The last time the National Center for Education Statistics collected data for the “Nation’s Report Card,” 40% of fourth-grade students performed below the basic reading level. This 2024 figure was the highest since 2002. “This is really a long-term trend, not just a pandemic-related thing,” said Vance.
Each episode of “Storytime with the Second Lady” will be a 10-15 minute read aloud of a children’s book by a special guest. The first episode is the exception, where Vance reads “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” herself. The following two episodes, all released Monday, feature former NASCAR driver Danica Patrick reading Disney’s “Cars” and paralympic medalist Brent Poppen reading his own book, “Playground Lessons.”
Children in late preschool through early elementary school are the video podcast’s target audience, which is filmed in a studio designed by Vance and her three children (ages 4, 6 and 8). Vance said her experience teaching her own kids to read was part of her inspiration for starting the podcast.
The White House and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on X to promote the new podcast, and as of press time it had already grown to more than 700 YouTube subscribers.
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Vance’s Role as Second Lady
In her interview with NBC, Vance also spoke about juggling responsibilities as a mother and the second lady. The Vances announced in January that they are expecting a baby boy in July, making them the first vice presidential family since the 1870s to have a child while in office.
And while she is not a policy adviser, the first Hindu and Indian American second lady said her husband comes to her for advice on issues that are “intensely personal or important personally.”
Vance admitted that she and the vice president “absolutely” have disagreements, but would not elaborate on where their beliefs clash. “There’s no expectation that we are going to see eye to eye on everything,” Vance said. Their differences do allow them to have “open-minded” discussions, however.
The second lady was a registered Democrat until at least 2014, and began voting Republican in 2022 when her husband ran for Senate: “I was myself in 2014. I can be myself today,” she said.
Vance acknowledged that her views don’t always fit perfectly on either end of the political spectrum: “Sometimes I have thoughts that fit very comfortably into one side or another. Sometimes I have views that are way more idiosyncratic,” she said. But she didn’t elaborate on what those views actually are.
And while the vice president remains embroiled in all of the news of the day, the second lady is focused on storytime with the youngest Americans.
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