Li graduated from Richmond Hill High School and is an undergraduate student at Rotman Commerce at the University of Toronto.

[citation needed] One of Li's early notable performances came at the 2011 Canada Winter Games in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

[3] Later that year, Li was the gold medal winner in the women's doubles event alongside Bruce at the 2011 Pan American Games.

[4] Li would then go on the next day to win the women's singles competition, completing a second games double gold appearance that year, this time in Guadalajara.

[8] In 2013, Li entered the finals of the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold, defeating Hong Kong top player Yip Pui Yin in the semi-finals, making her the first Pan-American athlete to ever enter into a singles final of a Grand Prix Gold event since that series began in 2007.

At the 2015 Pan American Games, Li successfully defended her title, defeating fellow Canadian Rachel Honderich in the final.

After deeming herself fully fit, she entered the stage relatively quietly in 2018 until she made a landmark win against the 3rd seed Ratchanok Intanon in round 16 of the All England Open.

[12] In 2022, Li won a silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games after defeating Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland in the semi-finals and losing to P. V. Sindhu in the final.

[13] In the same year, Li also made a breakthrough in the 2022 BWF World Championships by defeating the eighth seed, Ratchanok Intanon, again in the round of 16.

Though she eventually lost to the Olympic gold medalist and Chinese player Chen Yufei, it marked her first time getting into the quarterfinals of the BWF World Championships since 2011.

She qualified to represent Canada at the 2024 Summer Olympics but was defeated by Akane Yamaguchi (24-22, 17-21, 12-21) and ranked 2nd in the group stage of women's singles.