While at Princeton, Li founded the “Do It In the Dark” campaign encouraging students to conserve energy. Today, her interest in environmental policy has made it into her platform.
“I believe in climate change,” Li says. “The pollution is definitely there. We see deforestation in the Amazon. We see a four-year drought in California. We see Superstorm Sandy and other extreme weather events. We want to protect our children from diseases and other negative effects of pollution, and there’s ever mounting evidence that the climate is changing. We can’t afford the procrastination mentality.”
After college, Li took a job with Morgan Stanley as a financial advisor in the company’s New York offices.
“The financial markets have always intrigued me — after all, these numbers tell the story of our economy,” Li says. “There are so many similarities to politics. It’s relationship management and taking care of people, thinking about how you would want to be invested if were in their position, and never endorsing an investment that isn’t suitable for the client. It’s about operating at the highest levels of integrity.”
Li says that as a young woman in the financial services industry, she was often made to feel uncomfortable.
“Sometimes I feel like I am treated like a child — and maybe that’s in part because I am so young, but maybe also it is because I am a woman.” Li says. “I don’t think they recognize what they’re doing, I don’t think they intentionally made me feel uncomfortable or talked down to me, but the way they treat us is extremely patronizing.”
Li calls for the financial services industry to make its jobs more woman- and family-friendly by implementing flexible scheduling, working from home, child care and paid maternity leave policies.
Li says she hopes her transition from financial services to campaign politics inspires her generation.
“The mere act that I’m running alone has already instigated some introspection in my peers,” Li says. “They’re wondering: ‘Why am I at companies like Goldman Sachs, why am I not doing something to make an impact, how can I serve society?’“
Li’s platform also includes a focus on women’s rights, educational affordability, campaign finance reform and economic stimulus — stances that she says are more important than her age, gender, or immigrant background.
“I’m more interested in doing something tangible for families in Pennsylvania,” Li says. “I think I would be prouder if I was able to create jobs and address the crumbling infrastructure issues in our country. If I created 500,000 jobs for southeast Philadelphia or Camden, that’s something that I could take away from this experience and feel that my life has not been in vain.”