Tsewang Yangzom was born in Himachal Pradesh in India, the daughter of Tibetan refugees. She studied at the Tibetan Children's Village (TCV) School in Dharamsala before immigrating to the United States in 2006.
Yangzom has been passionate about Tibetan folkdance and music since an early age. As part of the TCV School's dance and music troupe, she appeared in festivals and competitions around India and was awarded as the school's best female performing artist. Yangzom has regularly performed at Tibetan events in Washington, D.C., including during the Thurgood Marshall Center's annual Machik Weekend and the Dalai Lama's visit to the capital in March 2010. As cultural secretary of the Capital Area Tibetan Youth Congress, Yangzom has helped share and fundraise on behalf of Tibetan culture throughout the D.C. metropolitan area.