Ioana Popescu graduated in 2003 from the University of Arts in Bucharest, Faculty of Decorative Arts and Design - scenography section. She made her debut as a set designer in 2001, with her first performance as a set designer, Arnold Wesker's "Chips with Everything", directed by Cornel Popescu, staged at the National Theatre in Targu Mures. 

Later, after graduating, she worked as a set designer for 8 years at the National Theatre of Targumureș. Since 2011, she joined the artistic team of the German State Theatre in Timisoara, working as a set designer on a lot of shows. Here are a few of them: "The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Eréndira and her Heartless Grandmother" (costumes and live sand drawings), Spring Awakening (costumes), "Leonce and Lena" (costumes), "Europa" (set and costumes), "Titus Andronicus" (set and costumes), "Bremen" (set and costumes). She collaborated with several theatres in the country - Hungarian State Theatre "Csiky Gergely" Timișoara, National Theatre Bucharest, Hungarian State Theatre Cluj, Classical Theatre "Ioan Slavici", Arad, Luceafărul Theatre Iasi, Theatre "Sică Alexandrescu" Brasov, and works with top Romanian and foreign directors: Radu Alexandru Nica, Yuri Kordonsky, Alexandru Dabija, Brian Michaels, Răzvan Mazilu, Charles Muller. 

For a period she worked as assistant costume designer and assistant set designer at Castel Film and later at Libra film. She is part of the production team of the film "Somewhere at Palilula", directed by Silviu Purcărete, as set assistant to Dragoș Buhagiar. In 2018 she wins, together with Helmuth Stürmer, the UNITER award for the best scenography (costumes and live sand drawings) for the show: "The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Eréndira and her Heartless Grandmother", directed by Yuri Kordonsky, a production of the German State Theatre Timișoara.