Born in Hawaii to Korean immigrants, Toupin left the Islands in the waning days of WWII for Bennington College, where she received her B.A. Later, she added an M.A. in Industrial Relations from the University of Hawaii. She worked in Washington DC as an intelligence specialist in NATO affairs and as Communications Director for the late Senator D.K. Inouye of Hawaii. Later, she lived in suburban New York and wrote two best-selling cookbooks: The Entertaining Wife with Suzanne Rogers, and The Hawaii Cookbook with its introduction by James Michener.

In 1967 she found herself a single mother supporting three children. A chance meeting brought her to Tufts University in Medford, MA, where she lived on campus until she retired in 1992. As one of the country's first Asian American college deans, her career at Tufts spanned a tumultuous period of societal, educational and institutional upheaval.