Angela Li runs her school much like one would run a prison, with emphasis on security, the monitoring of student and faculty activities, and funding. She is always on the lookout for a new way to raise money for the school, no matter what ethical considerations she must ignore. Her primary concern is to bring honor to herself and Laaawndale High (in order of descending importance). The students themselves probably rank about fifth on the list. She employs misdirection, gratuitous rule-bending, and occasionally outright dishonesty in order to achieve her goals.

Daria often finds herself at odds with Ms. Li over ethical considerations, often stemming from Ms. Li's attempts to use her to promote the school, and Daria's resistance to that sort of thing. Daria generally wins, but it's not always a completely one-sided victory. Ms. Li has also had a few encounters with Helen Morgendorffer over time, usually regarding Daria's bad attitude.

Ms. Li was once named fourth runner-up for Principal of the Year by the tri-county chapter of the Asian-American Women in Education's Caucus.

High School sports are of great importance to her, and she has a history of giving favors to students who prove their worth on the football field but haven't learned to spell yet. In this way, an idiot like Kevin stays on the team.

On one occasion when funding became tight, Ms. Li continued to give preference in the budget to such items as a satellite transmission jamming system as opposed to books. She only took necessary action when it was revealed to her that there was also no money for the football team. At this point, she opened up the school to corporate sponsorship, specifically Ultra-Cola. She eventually went temporarily insane under the pressure of having to push product in order to keep the money flowing in. How she ever got re-instated as principal after the incident is anyone’s guess.

Ms. Li has a statue of Buddha in her office.