At 31 years old, Mei Mei chef and owner Irene Li is the youngest person to win the Beard Award for leadership. She said the award comes after two years that have been 'the most challenging and rewarding of my career.'
"Hope for the best, and prepare for the worst." That was a big part of the leadership approach that Boston chef and restaurant owner Irene Li said helped get her through all the twists and turns of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Li said she was pleased to not only see the Beard Awards return after a two-year hiatus, but also that the list of 2022 recipients shows the foundation is"getting serious about representation and equity in the world of restaurants.", with white male chefs being very highly represented," Li said."But this year, there are all kinds of restaurants on the list. I can't wait to go try some of them — many that I've never heard of before.
She earned recognition early in the pandemic when Mei Mei overhauled its business model in response to public health measures, like social distancing, which stifled the restaurant's operations. Mei Mei's brick-and-mortar location on Park Drive in Boston On the business side, Li acknowledged she has navigated COVID from a privileged position, with more support and resources than some other restaurants. But she said the radically improvisational mindset the food industry adopted during the pandemic did do some good."The creativity that we've seen during COVID, the grit, the willingness to just try anything — I feel like so much cool stuff came out of that," Li said.
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