Yesoon Lee was born in Seoul, Korea in 1946. She attended South Gate Elementary School, Sudo Girl's High School, and Lee University. Lee attended graduate school for music composition at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana where she met and married her husband. Lee and her husband moved to Northern Virginia where she taught at Averett College in Danville, Virginia and operated Pica-deli in Alexandria, Virginia with a friend. Lee's husband passed away from cancer, leaving her looking for new ways to support her family. She operated a Charlie Chiang's Kwai in Ronald Reagan National Airport and later opened Mandu in Dupont Circle and Mount Vernon Square, Washington, D.C. with her son, Danny Lee. Yeeson is a member of McLean Bible Church.