Joan Hodson attended McAuley High School in Ōtāhuhu, a suburb of Auckland between 1975 and 1979.
Changing career direction, she studied at the Auckland Teachers Training College between 1983 and 1986, receiving a certificate in primary school teaching.
Hodson was a member of the victorious team in the 1987 world championships, playing under her maiden name of Joan Solia, which were held in Glasgow, Scotland and of the team that lost 53–52 to Australia in the final of the 1991 championships, held in Sydney, Australia.
Between 2008 and 2014 she was a Dean at St Dominic's Catholic College, located in Henderson on the outskirts of Auckland.
She is presently Dean for Year 11 at the Sacred Heart Girls' College, New Plymouth, in the Taranaki region of the North Island of New Zealand.