Hodan Hassan

I attribute my success to my parents. My dad was an educator who believed in education so much that he would tell us, if I die today, I'm not leaving you guys a cent, but I will leave you guys the wisdom of valuing education. He believed that education improves our situations no matter what, that education opens our eyes. He spoke seven languages and would tell us every language you learn brings a new opportunity for you, it opens the door to a whole new world. My mom would always tell me I have to work three times extra hard because I am Black, I am a woman, and I am an immigrant. She would tell me, anybody that you're competing with for something, you have to work three times harder than they have to work. That lesson helped me in my first campaign, because my first campaign was an open seat with seven people running. My mom's words would echo in the back of my head, that I have to work three times harder than everybody else. And I did! And I won in a landslide on a very contested race. So my parents, the value of education and the value of hard work, that's what they instilled me with, and that's what really kept me going. Go get your education, work hard, things will fall in place.

The best career advice I've received came from two different women at two different times in my life, but they told me the same exact thing. In 2013, one of my professors in grad school told me that if I ever get elected into office, I need to make sure to build relationships, even with people that I have fundamental disagreements with, because relationships are what make or break your career. Then, fast forward to 2019 when I started serving in the legislature, Melissa Hortman, who was the Speaker of the House, pulled me aside and told me to cross the aisle and go talk to the women on the other side, have coffee with them and get to know them personally, because you never know when you're gonna need them. It felt like these two spoke the same words, even though they don't know each other and they're in different roles. That advice really served me well. I was able to build relationships, and even though I'm not serving in the legislature anymore, I have relationships that I treasure today from people who fundamentally disagree with me on almost everything. Another lesson I learned from Melissa was that even if you disagree with somebody, find one thing that you both enjoy. I was able to bond with a House member from a very conservative rural district over our shared care about mental health, and we were able to advocate for policies together around that issue.

I would tell them that don't ask for permission. And always support another woman. Men don't ask for permission, so you don't need to ask for permission. Ask for forgiveness, but don't ask for permission, just do it.

The biggest challenge I face, and I still face in every room that I walk in, is that I am a visibly Muslim woman who wears a scarf. Politics and policy is a space that's predominantly occupied by white men, and if it's not white men, then it's white women. Maybe you'll run into a person of color here and there, but predominantly, it's a white space. So here you have this Black woman with a scarf who walks into this space, and I have to always prove that I'm smart enough, that I have the experience to validate what arguments I am making, that I have the education, the experience. For me, it's an uphill battle. I start from here, and then I have to walk my way up on this hill to prove everybody in that room that I'm worthy of the seat that I'm sitting on. It became second nature to me, so it doesn't bother me at all. I just have to prepare myself. I know what I'm walking into and the work that I need to do beforehand. If I can send them my bio or any information about me ahead of time, I'll take that opportunity, so then I'm not spending half of my time convincing folks that I'm qualified to do this. As for opportunities, there is always an opportunity to mentor a young girl or a young lady or a woman. There's always an opportunity to make room for other women, and that's my goal in life, to always keep the door open for other women. Men automatically don't need an invitation to the table, but it takes about five or six asks for a woman to convince herself to run for office. Knowing that, and knowing that this is still a male-dominated field, I'm always keeping the seat next to me saved for another woman to sit on it.

Integrity is one of my most important values, and treating people with dignity. I don't care who you are, I don't care what title you have, I don't care if you have no title, I don't care what you come from, I don't care your religion, your ethnicity, your background. If you and I meet, I'm going to treat you with dignity, because that's what you deserve. Every single person deserves to be treated with dignity, unless they prove otherwise. I've met a lot of crazy people in my line of work, and I have met people who don't know me and judge me because they have preconceived notions of who I'm supposed to be. I've been in spaces where I've been treated poorly, where I've been treated miserably, and I still have the decency to not get into their level and act like they do. If you drag me to your level, then you have won. You could treat me miserably, but I'll still speak against what you're doing, but I will never treat you inhumane, because no one deserves to be treated inhumane.