Vivian grew up on her parent's Asian vegetable farm in Bakersfield, California where she became familiar with produce and agriculture from an early age. Some of her favorite early food memories involve eating freshly harvested yellow watermelon on a hot summer day and going to her grandmother’s house where she would feast on noodles and steamed buns made from scratch. She eventually left home to attend college at Harvard where she ran a campus grille and staged at Henrietta's Table. Upon graduation, she attended the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. She is inspired by her time at Chez Panisse, where quality ingredients were simple, respected, and allowed to shine on their own. In 2011, She moved to Los Angeles and worked as a service manager for Hillstone Restaurant Group. Hoping to share Taiwanese food with a broader audience, she opened Pine & Crane in Silver Lake in 2014, Joy in Highland Park in 2018, and another Pine & Crane in DTLA in 2022.