Hodan Hassan was born on February 1, 1982, in Somalia. In 1991, due to the Somali Civil War, she sought refuge in the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya. She immigrated to the United States in 1999.
Hassan attended Metropolitan State University, where she graduated with a B.A. in social work. She furthered her education at Augsburg University, graduating with a M.A. in social work.
In her professional life, Hassan has worked as a mental health clinician and the executive director for Pathways 2 Prosperity. She has also served as a senior clinical social worker for Hennepin County. After two of her nieces were badly hurt in an Al-Shabaab terrorist shooting, Hassan became active in fighting extremism in Minnesota and rebuilding trust between Somali Minnesotans and the government. In 2015, she visited the White House as part of a Summit on Countering Violent Extremism.
Hassan was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2018 and has been reelected every two years since. She first ran after 19-term incumbent Karen Clark announced she would not seek reelection. Hassan won the crowded DFL primary election, defeating future state senator Omar Fateh. She was the second Somali-American woman elected to the state legislature, after Ilhan Omar was elected in 2016.
Hassan chairs the Economic Development Finance and Policy Committee, and sits on the Housing Finance and Policy, Ways and Means, and Workforce Development Finance and Policy Committees. She announced that she will not seek reelection in 2024.
