Ioana Popescu graduated from the Bucharest University of Arts – Scenography in 2003. In 2011 she joined the German Theater's artistic team, working as a scenographer for numerous productions: The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Eréndira and Her Heartless Grandmother (costumes and live sand paintings), Spring Awakening (costumes), Hänsel and Gretel (sets and costumes), Europa (sets and costumes), Ttius Andronicus (sets and costumes).    

She often collaborates with other Romanian theaters – Târgu Mureș National Theater, „Csiky Gergely” Theater, „Toma Caragiu” Theater in Ploiești, „Ioan Slavici” Classical Theater in Arad, „Luceafărul” Theater in Iași, „Sică Alexandrescu” Theater in Brașov, and she has worked with some of the best Romanian and foreign directors: Radu Alexandru Nica, Yuri Kordonsky, Alexandru Dabija, Brian Michaels, Răzvan Mazilu, Charles Muller. For a while she worked as a costume designer and assistant set designer for Castel Film, and later for Libra Film. She was part of the production team, as Dragoș Buhagiar's set assistant, for the movie Somewhere in Palilula, directed by Silviu Purcărete. 

In 2018 she received, alongside Helmuth Stürmer, the UNITER prize for best scenography (costumes and live sand paintings) in The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Eréndira and Her Heartless Grandmother, a performance directed by Yuri Kordonsky, and staged at the German State Theater Timișoara.