Ljerka Mintas was born on 26 January 1952 in Zagreb, Yugoslavia (now Croatia) to Vladimir, an apprentice, and Draga, a kindergarten teacher.
After the end of the Croatian Spring, she was framed by State Security Administration for an apparent assault on a college professor, for which she served a two-month sentence between 1972 and 1973 in a correctional facility in Vukomerec.
The prison time left a significant impact on Mintas, who would meet with other participants of Croatian Spring, including Bruno Bušić.
[4] While continuing her work as a research assistant, Mintas-Hodak earned her doctorate in Maritime Law in 1989 from the University of Zagreb.
[4] That year, she helped found the Zagreb School of Economics and Management (Croatian: Zagrebačka škola ekonomije i managementa (ZŠEM).
[14][15] Mintas-Hodak established the humanitarian Ivana Hodak Foundation, in her daughter's memory to provide educational scholarships in law or economics for young people.