Hani debuted as part of the South Korean girl group EXID in February 2012 with the single Whoz That Girl. They reached their career breakthrough in 2014 when a fan-taken video of Hani performing the song Up & Down with the group went viral on social networking platforms. The song gave them their first number one win on Mnet’s M Countdown. In 2016, they released their first studio album called Street, which peaked at number 2 on the Gaon Album Chart. In 2017, they dropped their third extended play titled Eclipse, which became their highest-charting album to date on the Billboard World Albums chart at number four.


Under her birth name, Hani made her debut as an actress with a leading role in the 2020 web series XX, which won the Jury’s Special Prize at the 15th Seoul International Drama Awards. In 2021, she became part of the main cast of two more web dramas, namely How to Be Thirty and You Raise Me Up. That same year, she made her film debut in Young Adult Matters, which earned her a Best New Actress nomination at the 30th Buil Film Awards. In late 2021, she starred in the 12-episode JTBC series Idol: The Coup.


In early 2016, it was confirmed that Hani and JYJ’s Junsu were dating. They broke up after a couple of months.