Irene Li

Irene Shiang Li is a Boston-based chef and restaurateur and a winner of a 2022 James Beard Leadership Award. The youngest person to win the award (32), Li is also a six time finalist in the Rising Star Chef category.

A self taught chef, Li founded Mei Mei as a food truck, Mei Mei Street Kitchen, with brother Andrew and sister Margaret in 2012. Mei Mei means little sister in Mandarin. They opened Mei Mei Restaurant a year later in 2013, and Mei Mei now operates as a dumpling company, teaching virtual classes and selling packaged dumplings at farmers markets with their headquarters in South Boston. During COVID-19, Li co-founded Project Restore Us with Marena Lin, Lily Huang and Tracy Chang, which is a nonprofit that sought to use the restaurant supply chain to help feed immigrant and working-class families.

In 2022, Irene co-founded Prepshift, a coaching, consulting, and workforce training business with Dylan Gully and Carla Cornejo. Originally created as an online tool to help restaurant owners run their businesses, Prepshift is also a technical assistance partner to the City of Boston, City of Cambridge, and other entities.

Irene Li is the daughter of medical scientist Frederick Pei Li and granddaughter of military general Li Hanhun. Along with her sister Margaret, she is the co-author of Perfectly Good Food from W.W. Norton.