Riya Vaid was born into a family that had lived in Hoshiarpur, India, and London, United Kingdom, so she became interested in the concept of a hybrid identity as a Canadian citizen. During her formative years, she was deeply curious about biology and ecology, which she explored through drawing, painting, and later, photography. Her works are strongly rooted in archival history and its indexical nature through cultural identity and the natural world.

Currently, Riya Vaid is a fourth-year University of Guelph undergraduate student majoring in Studio Art, double minoring in Art History and English. Her areas of concentration in her major are printmaking and photography, both of which she hopes to combine in her technical studies to complete her capstone thesis.