On a global mission to make the financial industry accessible for all, Vivian Tu is a former Wall Street trader turned expert, public speaker, host, entrepreneur, New York Times bestselling author, Chief of Financial Empowerment at SoFi, and the CEO and Founder of the multi-platform brand, Your Rich BFF. Her approachable, culturally fluent take on financial literacy has earned her a community of over 10 million followers and a place among the most influential voices within financial education. Vivian has been recognized on the TIME100 Creators list (2025), Forbes 30 Under 30 (2023), Forbes Top Creators (2022 & 2023), and received the “Digital Influencer of the Year” Award at the 2024 Unforgettable Gala, honoring Asian and Pacific Islander achievements in entertainment.
Vivian is gearing up to release her second book, Well Endowed, with HarperCollins on February 3, 2026. Picking up where her first bestselling book, Rich AF, left off, Well Endowed offers a fun, practical roadmap to navigating the biggest financial decisions in adulthood (homeownership, marriage, family planning, etc.), empowering readers to align their spending with their values, goals, and legacy.
In March 2023, Vivian expanded her reach with the launch of “Networth and Chill,” a groundbreaking podcast that immediately topped the Business charts and is now in its third season. The show was nominated in the “Best Business + Finance” category at the 2024 iHeart Podcast Awards, solidifying its place as one of the leading voices in the financial podcasting space.
Her debut New York Times bestseller, Rich AF: The Winning Money Mindset That Will Change Your Life, was published in December 2023 by Penguin Random House after a competitive seven-figure auction.
Achieving millionaire status at just 27, Vivian’s financial success is a direct result of her strategic mindset. Her drive, ambition, diverse skill set, and passion has transformed her into one of today’s most desirable public speakers and brand collaborators. To date, she has given several panels and keynote presentations at events including the SXSW Conference and Festivals, Snapchat’s Financial Seminar, Forbes’ Top Creator event, BuzzFeed’s Content Creators Showcase, Glow Recipe’s Empowerment Summit, NextShark’s AAPI College Readiness Conference, and Her Campus Media’s Her Conference, to name just a few. Brand/organization partnerships thus far include SoFi, Marshalls, Substack, Amazon, Allergan Aesthetics, Skinceuticals, Nestle CRUNCH, Lululemon, Metlife, Carnival Cruise Line, Carmax, Adobe, Zola, and much more.
Vivian’s journey to success began in Baltimore, MD, where she was born to Chinese immigrant parents, who surrounded her with love and instilled the value of every penny spent. Throughout high school, she excelled in academics, becoming valedictorian of her class, and co-founding a tech startup as part of an AP Computer Science project, which sparked her early knack for entrepreneurship. Vivian went on to attend the University of Chicago, where she double majored in Public Policy and Environmental Studies and graduated with honors before entering the workforce in New York City as an equity trader at JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Although she excelled working under the only other Asian woman on her team, who served as a close mentor and the very early “blueprint” for Your Rich BFF, after two and a half years, Vivian’s experiences with burnout and a toxic work environment came to a head and she decided to leave Wall Street behind. She transitioned to a job in digital media strategy sales at BuzzFeed, where she became a top seller within two years. While at BuzzFeed, many coworkers turned to Vivian for their personal finance questions, and she soon recognized how great the need was for financial literacy and education beyond the big banks, especially for marginalized and minority communities. To better consolidate and share her financial savvy, she posted her first video on the internet, and within 24 hours, it had gone viral and earned her over 100,000 followers in just one week.
Vivian stands at the intersection of financial literacy, culture, and digital influence, redefining what wealth education looks like for a new generation.