Lum attended LaGuardia High School where she played trumpet and was trained in classical and jazz music. At age 16, she adopted the stage name Awkwafina, which "[refers to] a person [she] repressed" and an alter ego to her "quiet and more passive" personality during her college years. Lum majored in journalism and women's studies at The University at Albany. From 2006 to 2008, Lum attended the Beijing Language and Culture University in Beijing, China, where she studied Mandarin.