Fangfang Li received her MA in teaching Chinese as a second language from Beijing Language and Culture University, and her BA in Chinese language and literature from Shandong Science and Technology University.

She worked as an instructor in the Cornell-Beijing FALCON program in the spring of 2007. She served as a Teaching Associate in the department of Asian Studies at Cornell University from 2007 to 2012. She also worked as a Chinese Lecturer at Wake Forest University before coming back to Cornell.