Lingzi was a former Boston University graduate student majoring in mathematics and statistics. In 2012, she graduated from the Beijing Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science degree. She held internships at the Beijing offices of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu consultancy and at Dongxing Securities Co. during her undergraduate years and spent a semester at the University of California Riverside.

In her early 20s, she enjoyed cooking and often shared photos of her home-prepared meals on her Twitter-like Chinese Sina Weibo account — a blueberry-covered waffle one day, spinach sachettini with zucchini on another.

Lingzi was one of the three people killed in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.