Riv Waiss was born in Brooklyn, New York, on December 24, 2002. She grew up in the Cleveland area, in a family of Russian immigrants, who immigrated from Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

In 2020, she was awarded a Scholastic Gold regional key, as well as a National Silver Scholastic key for her work in acrylic and oil painting.

Her work deals with emotional sensitivities, neurological conditions, precognition of the divine, and the complexities of female sexuality and sexualization.