Rachel Lee Hovnanian was born in Parkersburg, West Virginia and raised in Houston, Texas. She received her BFA from the University of Texas, Austin, and completed post graduate studies at the Parsons School of Design in New York. She lives and works between Miami, New York and Tuscany. Over the last decade Hovnanian's work has been exhibited at public and private institutions across the globe, including numerous solo presentations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and the middle east.