Tianyi holds a PhD in Chemical Oceanography from MIT and currently works at an Environmental, Health, and Safety consulting firm based in Boston. She began studying the piano at the age of five in Xiamen, China, with Huang Gang and Chen Haiying, and has studied with Anastasia Seifetdinova in Boston since 2016. A lifelong learner, she considers piano an integral part of her personal and artistic development. Her interests beyond music include language learning, reading, and travel.