Delphine Fawundu was born on Brooklyn's Eastern Parkway in 1971, and was primarily raised on Carroll Street and at Tivoli Towers, both in the Crown Heights neighborhood. She participated in a building-sponsored track team as a child and attended P.S. 241 and I.S. 320 in Brooklyn. She has a master's degree in Media Ecology from New York University, a master's degree from Mercy College and a bachelor's degree from the state school at Stony Brook. Fawundu grew up with two siblings in her mother's home. She has three sons with Howard Buford. Fawundu is a photographer, with professional experience dating back to the early 1990s, and an educator. In 2010, she produced a documentary short, "Tivoli: A Place We Call Home," and exhibited related photographs at Brooklyn Historical Society. Her work is also in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, among many others. She has received a number of fellowships, grants and residencies, and creates in locations all over the world.