Lily Qi

Hong Qi (born November 4, 1963) is an American politician who represents the 15th legislative district in the Maryland House of Delegates. Qi previously worked as a chief administrator for economic development under Isiah Leggett. Early life and career Qi was born in Shanghai, China on November 4, 1963. She grew up during the height of the Cultural Revolution, during which her family was persecuted. She migrated to Indiana on February 22, 1989, where she attended Manchester University on a sponsorship from Manchester professor Al Deeter, for who she worked as a translator when he visited Shanghai. While at Manchester, she met her future husband, Yu "Phil" Peng. She graduated from Manchester University in 1991, earning a M.A. degree in communication studies. Afterwards, the couple worked at universities in Athens, Ohio, and Morgantown, West Virginia. In 1997, the couple moved to Montgomery County, Maryland after Qi accepted a position working on multicultural affairs at American University. She became a citizen of the United States in 1999 and earned a M.B.A. degree in marketing and global information technology management in 2001 while working at American University. After graduating, Qi began working on economic development for a couple of nonprofit organizations. Qi began her career in politics with under the administration of Montgomery County executive Ike Leggett, who asked her to serve as a liaison to the Asian American community after his election win in 2006. In April 2016, Leggett appointed Qi to serve as his Assistant Chief Administrative Officer on economic and workforce matters in Montgomery County, becoming the first Asian American to serve the position. Following Hillary Clinton's loss in the 2016 United States presidential election, Qi applied to a training course hosted by Emerge Maryland, an organization created to prepare potential female Democratic candidates for public office, to learn about the process of running for public office. Utilizing her experience at Emerge Maryland, she announced her candidacy for the Maryland House of Delegates in November 2017, seeking to succeed Delegate Aruna Miller. During the Democratic primary, she was endorsed by Leggett and the Maryland Sierra Club. Her 2018 campaign and election were noted for mobilizing the local Chinese-American community through WeChat.