Irene Li
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Irene Li

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Irene Li (she/hers) opened Mei Mei Restaurant in Boston in 2013 and has spent the years since driving the industry forward in ethical sourcing and fair and transparent employment practices, including open book management. Now, Irene and her team are evolving Mei Mei into a packaged dumpling company. She serves on the boards of Project Bread, the Haley House, The Food Project and Lovin' Spoonfuls. During COVID, she co-founded Project Restore Us, whose mission is to serve working immigrant families by raising funds and paying restaurants to package and deliver culturally relevant grocery staples to their doorsteps. Today, Irene’s focus is on transforming the restaurant world into an industry in which worker's needs and potential are taken seriously. She believes that professionalizing and dignifying restaurant employment has the potential to uplift millions of workers and small business owners. Inspired by her peers, team members, and experiences in the industry, she is building Prepshift, a tech tool that supports businesses of all sizes to thrive sustainably and equitably. Irene is an Eater Young Gun, Zagat 30 Under 30, and Forbes 30 Under 30 winner, six-time James Beard Foundation Rising Star Chef nominee, and 2022 James Beard Foundation Leadership Award winner. Her first book, Double Awesome Chinese Food, was published in 2018 in collaboration with her siblings, Margaret and Andrew. In 2023, W. W. Norton will release Perfectly Good Food, which Margaret spearheaded and Irene contributed to. She loves making use of every bit of her farmers' market haul and is aspiring to stop throwing away sad gooey baby spinach.
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