[25] As a runway model, she has walked the catwalk for designers such as Rosa Cha, Blue man, Fashion's Night Out, Caio Gobbi, Fause Haten, M. Officer, Luca Luca, Liverpool Fashion, Dosso Dossi, Carmen Steffens, Cía Maritima, Agua de Coco, Lino Villaventura, Forum, Vassarette, Zoomp, Joan Vass, Cori, Emilio Pucci, Fendi, Giles Deacon, Carmen Marc Valvo, Emanuel Ungaro, Baby Phat, Giorgio Armani, Balmain, Bottega Veneta, Sportmax, Vera Wang, Valentino, Miu Miu, Givenchy, Versace, Cividini, Alexandre Herchcovitch, Jason Wu, Marc Jacobs, Christian Dior, Paco Rabanne, Victoria's Secret, Sean John, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Desigual, Cynthia Rowley, Sully Bonnelly, Anna Sui, Guy Laroche, John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, Yigal Azrouël, Ralph Lauren, Christian Lacroix, Escada, Nanette Lepore, Richard Tyler, Triton, and Betsey Johnson.

Lima has also worked for notable fashion brands bebe, Armani, Versace, De Beers, Elie Saab, Colcci, Schiaparelli, Prada, Intimissimi, GUESS?, LOEWE, H&M, Bulgari, Miu Miu, DKNY, Emporio Armani, Givenchy, Keds, Mossimo, Jason Wu, Balmain, Blumarine, Marc Jacobs, Maybelline, BCBG, and Louis Vuitton.

She also appeared on the covers and in the editorials of other fashion magazines such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, ELLE, Grazia, Cosmopolitan, Interview, GQ, W, Arena, V, Esquire, Garage, and French Revue des Modes.

She appeared only in shoes, diamonds and gloves for the November 2007 issue of Vanity Fair celebrating 20 years of supermodels with her fellow Victoria's Secret Angels.

[33] In February 2008, she was chosen to be the face of Mexico's Liverpool department store chain and launched the partnership with a press conference, runway show, and a summer campaign.

[36] In 2011, Lima signed a deal as a spokeswoman for Megacity by Votsu, a Brazilian social gaming company, to appear in their commercials.

[37] Lima has worked with the most established photographers in fashion such as Annie Leibovitz, Juergen Teller, Bruce Weber, J.R. Duran, Paolo Roversi, Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matidin, Vincent Peters, Mario Sorrenti, Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, Steven Meisel, David Sims, and Mario Testino.

She became the face of Donna Karan's spring 2012 advertising campaign, which was accused of having racist undertones due to a photo featuring Lima posing in front of huddled local Haitians.

[38] In early 2012, Turkish clothing company Mavi Jeans hired Lima to be the face and spokesmodel for the brand.

Store officials at Mavi say the clothing Lima wore in the ad campaigns was met with so much demand that they ran out of stock.

Due to her success rate with the company, the European and Russian branch of Mavi decided to make her the global face of the brand.

Then added "You meet her and there's a generosity of spirit and very friendly and easy manner, and then all of sudden, the lights go on, and you realize you're working with this absolutely extraordinary person who's capable of creating these powerful images.

The campaign was launched on April 20, 2014, with television commercials in Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Austria and Belgium.

"[49] In September 2014, Lima starred in a campaign for luxury Swiss watch label IWC alongside Karolina Kurkova.

[54] In July 2016, Lima was chosen by NBC alongside fellow Brazilian model Alessandra Ambrosio as the channel's food and culture correspondents for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

[55][56] The NBC feature also showed the duo practicing in the Brazilian martial art Capoeira in the build up to the Olympic games.

[71] Lima has appeared on several television ads for the brand, including the praised and criticized 2004 commercial "Angel in Venice" with Bob Dylan.

[76][77] In January 2017, Lima was named "the most valuable Victoria's Secret Angel" according to analytics company D'Marie,[78] which conducted research that factored in social media likes, followers, sales conversions and engagement to come up with the results.

"We've developed an algorithm that compiles over 24 specific metrics from each social media platform that determines an individual's ranking amongst others' in any variety of categories," D'Marie explained.

[79] In November 2018, Lima walked in her final Victoria's Secret Fashion Show after participating in 18 catwalks for the brand.

[80] Lima's made her acting debut alongside Mickey Rourke and Forest Whitaker, in The Follow (2001), a short film in BMW's series The Hire, opposite Clive Owen and directed by Wong Kar-wai.

[81] She also appeared with her fellow Angels in a guest spot playing herself in the CBS comedy series How I Met Your Mother in November 2007, in the episode "The Yips".

She also played herself, along with fellow Victoria's Secret Angels, in the 2013 series The Crazy Ones alongside Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar.

She starred in Super Bowl XLVI commercials for online flower service Teleflora and Kia Motors which were watched by more than 200 million viewers.

"[95] Lima's appointment was criticised as "tone deaf" by ex-Australia footballer and former FIFA Council member Moya Dodd, who described the supermodel's role as "baffling.

[100] In 2009, Lima married Serbian NBA player Marko Jarić on Valentine's Day in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

[114][115] After being criticized for her views on abortion by footballer and former FIFA Council member Moya Dodd, Lima's publicist Laurent Boye released a statement in March 2023 stating: "We can proudly say that Ms Lima has been promoting a healthy lifestyle for several years and like many people, her position on many LGBTQIA+ and women issues has evolved and she is considered an ally," Boye said.

[95] Lima told Ocean Drive in March 2017 that she used to bring a copy of the Bible to read backstage before shows.

[117][118][119][120] Lima does charitable work helping with an orphanage, "Caminhos da Luz" (Paths of Light), located in Salvador.

[127] In 2012, she ranked number eight on Forbes' "The World's Most Powerful Latino Celebrities" list for earning more than 7 million dollars.