Vivian Tu's Path From Wall Street to Your Rich BFF

Vivian Tu, the founder of the financial education brand Your Rich BFF, says her early career was powered by a need to prove critics wrong. The drive carried her from a junior trading role at J.P. Morgan into media sales at BuzzFeed, where she later earned $625,000 in a single year, and eventually into full-time content creation.

In a conversation with CNBC Make It and Ellevest CEO Sylvia Kwan, Tu said she once chased conventionally successful milestones to spite people who did not believe in her. Those milestones became real: a New York Times bestselling book, Forbes 30 Under 30 recognition, and millionaire status by age 27.

The path was not a straight line. According to Tu, a move to a new J.P. Morgan team left her working under a manager who criticized her appearance and said she did not belong in finance. When she planned to quit on the spot, her mentor Jean Mah urged her to wait until she had a next step, then connected her to an opportunity at BuzzFeed.

Tu later began posting financial education videos on TikTok in 2021 as a side project. After more than a year of building an audience and seeing brand deals arrive, she left her sales job to run Your Rich BFF full time. She now describes success less in terms of lists and more as waking up each morning feeling that the work is meaningful.

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Where Tu's Career Pivot Actually Turned — and What Changed After the Lists

Why the mentor pivot mattered more than the spite

Tu's stated motivation—spite—is memorable, but the more consequential decision came when she wanted to quit J.P. Morgan immediately. Jean Mah's advice was not just emotional support; it turned a potential career stumble into a planned transition. The result was a move into BuzzFeed media sales, where Tu says she built a $625,000 income without prior experience in the field. Strong motivation can supply effort, but the structured next move supplied the outcome.

From side account to standalone business

The Your Rich BFF timeline follows a classic creator-economy sequence. Tu began posting TikTok videos in 2021 while still employed. She treated the account as an experiment until brand deals provided evidence of demand, then committed full time after more than a year of audience building. Her later success—book deals and bestseller status—rested on an audience that had already been cultivated, not on a leap made without signal.

What changed in her definition of success

Tu's current framing is less quantifiable: she describes success as doing meaningful work and feeling excited to start the day. That is a personal shift, not a universal financial lesson. It also explains the brand's appeal: Your Rich BFF blends financial education with the story of someone who moved from conventional finance to a more independent media career.

What Tu's Pivot Shows About Quitting, Mentors and Side Income

What readers can take from Tu's pivot

  • Do not quit before the next move is real. Tu's mentor stopped her from resigning on the spot and connected her to BuzzFeed; she then earned $625,000 in media sales.
  • Test a side income before going all in. Tu posted TikTok financial content for over a year and waited for brand deals before leaving her sales job.
  • Separate motivation from judgment. Spite can create drive, but Tu's stated rule is not to make a major career decision purely out of anger.
  • Expect the goalposts to move. After the lists and the millionaire milestone, Tu now measures success by whether the daily work feels meaningful—something no external ranking can verify.