Jadon turns a city into a story — civic video, podcasts, and campaigns that move real numbers.
20k
Views per Mayor video
Up from about 1k when he started. The Mayor's following grew from 1.5k to 6.6k.
2.3M
Plays on @li_locked.in
All time, across 100 reels since the account started in June 2025 (counted Oct 15, 2026). The biggest, a 2026 AP-score reaction, has 695k on its own.
1 of 20
Common App commissioners
Students advising the Common App, nationwide.
42
Videos on @msjhsvideography
Most of last year's, shot and cut by him.
Fremont, CA, since June 2025
The Mayor spotted Jadon's @li_locked.in channel and reached out directly. Jadon films civic events and onstage talks, edits the footage, and delivers final cuts for the Mayor's Instagram — more than 60 videos to date. Per-video reach is up roughly sixteen-fold since he started, and the account's following has quadrupled.
Fremont, CA to Tucson, AZ, 2025
The video that made him viral. He tracked down the realty company that owned the old Sweet Tomatoes location, then learned a Chinese couple had already bought it to open a Chinese food court. Jadon argued the location and local demographic wouldn't support it — and pitched a Sweet-Tomatoes-style restaurant instead. The owners were receptive. Working with the Mayor, they emailed the surviving Sweet Tomatoes in Tucson about Bay Area expansion.
Directed & edited by Jadon LiIt started with a call from the Mayor himself — Mayor Salwan wanted a public outlet for city issues and events, and asked Jadon to build it from the ground up: concept, team, format, and distribution.
But it isn't only a platform for the Mayor. The goal is to make civics land with a younger audience — through modern, short-form content like the reel here, which rides a trend to carry a civic idea and reaches students, not just subscribers.
~7 min
episodes, plus short-form
50k
views a month
Monthly
on air since fall 2025
With California First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom
As part of the California Love, California Strong initiative — civic journalism at the state level, and a direct result of the Voices of Fremont platform.
Two summers on the same program: the first knocking on doors, the second running the room.
Door-knocking and city events, handing flyers to constituents to gather opinions on city policy — the analog half of civic engagement.
50
calls a week
off the mayor's call sheet
One of three leads running the cohort: scheduling, training, and the certificates at the end of it.
36
interns in the cohort
run by three leads
Luke Wu's family boba shop was sued over a table a few centimeters too low — one of a wave of serial ADA lawsuits.
Jadon cold-emailed professors until Prof. Durazo at SF University agreed to advise.
An op-ed in the San Mateo Daily Journal, then the case in front of Chamber of Commerce policy managers and the Fremont City Council.
Year two, with Luke and Arissa: pushing SB 84, stalled by Assemblymember Ash Kalra in the judiciary committee.
Luke Wu
Co-advocate, boba shop owner
Arissa
Co-advocate, year 2
Prof. Durazo
Faculty advisor, SF University
Ash Kalra
Assemblymember, opposed SB 84
1
of ~13 commissioners
Nov 2025 – present
“One of 13 commissioners selected from ~100 applicants for a single open seat. Plans youth-issue events (mental-wellness workshops) and meets council-style the first Monday of every month.”
The commission on fremont.gov1
of 20
students nationwide
Common App, Jul 2026 – present
One of twenty students in the country advising the Common App — the application 1,000+ colleges run on. A two-hour session every month plus work between meetings, feeding the student view back into the product high-schoolers actually use.
DC
a week on the First Amendment
Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, Summer 2026 · Washington, DC
A selective summer forum on free speech in modern America — hot-take exercises, guest lectures, debate practice, and a capstone presentation, with students from Iowa farms to New York. The takeaway: free speech is the radical idea that gives those without power a seat at the table. And the internet is double-edged — anyone can post, but an algorithm decides who gets heard.
As part of L2 Videography, Jadon directs and edits MSJTV — the school's monthly broadcast of events, recaps, and opportunities — and directs the cinematic short films the committee is known for. MSJTV is only one of L2 Vid's jobs; the initiatives below are ones he started this year.
Anchors: Jadon Li & Hanna R. (juniors), Luis H. & Jennifer L. (seniors).
ACWD Water Clip Contest 2025: 1st and 3rd place out of 100+ entries, $600. ACWD Water Clips 2026: 3rd place, $100.
Civic video, behind-the-scenes dispatches, and the grind, all on Instagram.
