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Kyra Miles

To honor 50 years of Hmong refugee resettlement and immigration to Minnesota, MPR News highlighted Hmong Minnesotans throughout the month who are making a difference in our state. From a park naturalist to a soccer coach, these are our ChangeMakers.

Patisserie owner Marc Heu found a home in Minnesota’s Hmong community

Author Kao Kalia Yang resists being boxed in, both as the only '“Hmong voice” in literature and in a singular genre. The Minnesota author has written memoirs, fiction, picture books, and even an opera.

Minnesota Author Kao Kalia Yang resists being ‘the Hmong voice’

Kao Thao remembers the beauty of nature in Laos before he and his family fled. In Minnesota, he has spent his career teaching fishing, birding and canoeing for the Department of Natural Resources.



From a garden in Laos to Fort Snelling State Park, his life has been devoted to nature

Katie Ka Vang moved to Minnesota when she was 18 years old and has collaborated with theaters across the Twin Cities. Her plays often center around the question of what it means to be Hmong American.

This Twin Cities playwright honors the range of the Hmong experience on stage

Pao Houa Her’s internationally acclaimed photography is rooted in her experience being born in Laos, living with her family in the jungle for a year, escaping to a refugee camp and moving to Minnesota.



‘This whole other reality’: Pao Houa Her’s photos show complexity of Hmong diaspora

Bee Chang started playing soccer in high school and was offered a position with the Minnesota Aurora FC, the pre-professional women’s soccer team. She’s now the new assistant coach for the Aurora 2, the developmental team.

‘Dream come true’: Soccer player aims to inspire Hmong women like her to play sports

Nelsie Yang was just 24 years old in 2019 when she won a seat on the St. Paul City Council representing St. Paul’s east side — becoming the youngest woman and first-ever Hmong woman on the council.

St. Paul City Council Member Nelsie Yang champions working class families like her own

Chenue Her made history in 2021 when he became the first Hmong male news anchor in Des Moines, Iowa. He has since come back home to Minnesota, joining the FOX 9 Morning Show in 2024 as an anchor.



The country’s first Hmong male news anchor is making sure he’s not the last

For 18 years, Terry Yang ran Bubai Foods in Walnut Grove with his brother. Yang said he sees the services and products that he provided as a form of service to both the Hmong community and everyone who walked through the store’s front door.

A longtime grocer, now retired, continues to build connections between Hmong immigrants

Cy Thao served St. Paul as a lawmaker in the Minnesota House of Representatives. His election in 2002 made him the second Hmong American lawmaker to serve in a state Legislature anywhere in the country.



In Minnesota, this man helped pave the way for Hmong Americans in politics

Friendly Vang-Johnson’s parents were some of the first Hmong refugees to farm in Minnesota. She wasn’t planning to follow in her parents’ footsteps, but that changed when she started a delivery program that eventually became Friendly Hmong Farms, a wider effort to support farmers in Washington and Minnesota. 

These 11 Minnesotans reflect the richness of Hmong culture in the state

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