Hodan Nalayeh (Hodan Naaleeye)

Who was she?

Hodan Nalayeh was a Somali-Canadian media executive, producer and community activist (Wikipedia, Hodan Nalayeh). She founded Integration TV to share "positive stories" about Somalis (Al Jazeera, 15 July 2019).

Early life

She was born in Las Anod in 1976 (Al Jazeera). She grew up in a family of twelve children (Wikipedia). As a young child she moved with her family to Edmonton, and in 1992 to Toronto (same source). See Somalis in Edmonton and Somalis in Toronto.

Study and career

She earned a BA in communications at the University of Windsor and studied broadcast journalism at Seneca College (Wikipedia). She worked for over 13 years in radio and television sales and production (same source). From 2014 she hosted a Somali community show on Citytv in Toronto (same source). It was called Integration: Building a New Cultural Identity, and she was also its executive producer (same source). She ran the Cultural Integration Agency, a firm making programmes for many communities (same source).

Integration TV

Integration TV used tags like #SomaliaSuccess and #SomaliPositivity (Al Jazeera). It had more than 65,000 subscribers in 2019 (same source). She founded the Somali Refugee Awareness Project, which honoured the singer Saado Ali Warsame in 2011 (Wikipedia). See media in Somalia.

Going home

In 2014 she became the first of her siblings to go back, to film a documentary on Mogadishu (Al Jazeera). About a year before her death she moved to Somalia to show its culture and beauty (same source).

Death

On 12 July 2019 she and her husband, Farid Jama Suleiman, were killed in the attack on the Asasey Hotel in Kismayo (Wikipedia). At least 26 people died (Al Jazeera). Canada's immigration minister, Ahmed Hussen, said she "highlighted the community's positive stories" (same source).

In short

A Canadian Somali broadcaster whose media company produced programmes about Somali life.