Career
She is one of the most popular models from Romania. She has been featured on the covers of magazines from France, Romania, Russia, Spain, and Switzerland. Diaconu posed for a Vogue magazine for the first time at age 21, for the February 2013 issue.
She is the face of Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, and Belstaff.
In 2014, she was shot in a spring campaign for Belstaff, featuring David Beckham. Diaconu is notably the second Romanian, after Diana Moldovan, to pose for the famous Victoria"s Secret catalog.
Moldovan and Diaconu have also opened three health food restaurants called Moo Moo near Bucharest. Diaconu can speak five languages, including three fluently along with some French, Italian, and some basic Mandarin.
Diaconu was 11 years old when a local scout first approached her to enter the field of modeling.
However, she did not take them up on their offer until she was 13. She was discovered while swimming in a public pool. She explained her initial reluctance to become a model in an interview with the Daily Front Row, saying that the preconception of models is not great where she comes from, which is why she was not attracted to the idea.
She added that encouragement from her friends and the money convinced her to pursue a career in modeling.
Diaconu further elaborates on her first few years as a model in this excerpt from an interview with WSJ magazine:
If she were not a model, she has described her dream job as either a karate instructor, translator, or surfer. Other than one show in London at age 13, Diaconu first showed on the runway during Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2007 at age 15.
She later moved to New York City when she was 20 years old to continue pursuing her career as a model. Other than modeling, she has expressed interest in attending college and stated in an interview with Into the Gloss in September 2014 that she was studying social psychology at Western University.
She has appeared in numerous campaigns over the years for the biggest names in fashion such as Ralph Lauren, Dolce & Gabbana, Balmain, and Gucci.
She has also appeared in campaigns for Céline, Chloé, H&M, and Tiffany & Company Diaconu has also walked for many different names over the years, including Jason Wu, Chanel, Tom Ford, Prada, Versace, Stella McCartney, Marc Jacobs, Giorgio Armani, and Michael Kors. She"s frequently featured in Vogue magazine.
She is currently the face of DKNY"s Cashmere Mist fragrance campaign.
Although she states that while she is not an activist, she believes in fighting against racism and homophobia in her own country as well as building "sustainable environment and economical growth in places such as Nairobi, where rape among 6-15 year olds is not uncommon". She is involved with the Saint Jude Children"s Research Hospital, and Art and Abolition, an organization dedicated to ending child sex slavery in East Africa.