HaoPay Lee

Today on Ready: Leaders to Know, I sit down with HaoPay Lee,Legislative Liaison, MN Department of Employment and Economic Development

HaoPay leads with a strength shaped by resilience, culture, and lived experience. She was raised by a mother who survived domestic violence and raised four children largely on her own, guided by a grandfather who was a respected leader in the Hmong community and a steady, loving presence in her life. Growing up, she experienced the gendered expectations placed on Hmong girls, lessons in silence, service, and self-erasure. Instead of accepting those limits, she transformed them. Through advocacy, healing-centered leadership, and community-building, she has created spaces where people who are often overlooked are finally seen and heard. This episode is about voice, survival, and redefining what leadership can look like.