Former 2024 presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on August 9, 1985. His parents, V. Ganapathy and Geetha Ramaswamy, worked as a General Electric engineer and geriatric psychiatrist, respectively. Vivek's mother and father immigrated to the United States from India before he was born. Neither of his parents were citizens when Vivek was born, though his mother would later complete the citizenship process.

Vivek grew up in a Hindu household but became acquainted with other faiths through his Christian piano instructor and his Catholic high school, St. Xavier, from which he graduated as valedictorian in 2003. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Harvard University and later attended Yale Law School. In college, Vivek had a reputation for his brash, libertarian ideals, even calling himself a "contrarian" to The Harvard Crimson in 2006. 

The future millionaire stayed busy in school with political unions and intellectual discussion societies, but he also found time to pursue another passion: music. Vivek performed rap and hip-hop under the stage name Da Vek, even landing an opener slot for a Busta Rhymes concert while at Harvard University. Vivek later rapped Eminem's "Lose Yourself" to a crowd of supporters on the election trail, causing the aforementioned beef between the presidential hopeful and the hip-hop artist, who sent a cease-and-desist letter to Ramaswamy lawyers.