Uploaded August 2022 | Updated September 2026, 8 hours ago
The Leadership Awards recognize specific outstanding initiatives as well as bodies of work and lifetime achievement. Excellence of work, innovation in approach, and scale of impact within a community or the nation are among the criteria used to select the recipients. Honorees are chosen by a volunteer committee of experts and the cohort of past Leadership Award recipients. The Foundation awarded a $10,000 cash prize to each honoree.
Irene Li has spent years driving the restaurant industry forward through sustainable, ethical sourcing of ingredients and fair and progressive employment practices. She is co-founder of Mei Mei in Boston and Prepshift, a tool that helps restaurateurs build happy and informed teams, as well as Project Restore Us, a nonprofit whose mission is to restore food security by providing accessible, nutritious, culturally appropriate, and affordable groceries to families in the greater Boston area. She is an Eater Young Gun, Zagat 30 Under 30 honoree, and Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, as well as a six-time James Beard Foundation Rising Star Chef of the Year semifinalist.
Learn more about Irene here: bit.ly/3PS8NB3
The Leadership Awards recognize specific outstanding initiatives as well as bodies of work and lifetime achievement. Excellence of work, innovation in approach, and scale of impact within a community or the nation are among the criteria used to select the recipients. Honorees are chosen by a volunteer committee of experts and the cohort of past Leadership Award recipients. The Foundation awarded a $10,000 cash prize to each honoree.
Irene Li has spent years driving the restaurant industry forward through sustainable, ethical sourcing of ingredients and fair and progressive employment practices. She is co-founder of Mei Mei in Boston and Prepshift, a tool that helps restaurateurs build happy and informed teams, as well as Project Restore Us, a nonprofit whose mission is to restore food security by providing accessible, nutritious, culturally appropriate, and affordable groceries to families in the greater Boston area. She is an Eater Young Gun, Zagat 30 Under 30 honoree, and Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, as well as a six-time James Beard Foundation Rising Star Chef of the Year semifinalist.
Learn more about Irene here: bit.ly/3PS8NB3
