Diawara began her career as an actress in theatre and in film, including Genesis (1999), Sia, The Dream of the Python (2001) and Timbuktu (2014).

[3] Diawara took up the guitar and began composing her own material, writing songs that blend Wassoulou traditions of southern Mali with international influences.

[12] In September 2012, Diawara was featured in a campaign called "30 Songs / 30 Days" to support Half the Sky, a multi-platform media project inspired by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's book.

[13] September 2012 also saw her board the Africa Express Train with Damon Albarn, Rokia Traoré, Baaba Maal, Amadou & Mariam, Nicolas Jaar, and the Noisettes, amongst many others.

February 2015 saw her first live concert as an established international star in Mali, her home country, Festival sur le Niger[19] in Ségou, where she shared the stage once again with her long-time friend and mentor, Oumou Sangaré,[citation needed] Bassekou Kouyate, and many other domestic Malian acts.

[21] Later that year, she published the album Maliba, created as a soundtrack for a Google Arts and Culture project to digitise manuscripts held in Timbuktu.

[22] Noted for her "sensuous voice,"[23] Diawara sings primarily in Bambara, the national language of Mali, and builds on the tradition of "songs of advice" from the culture of her ancestral Wassoulou region.

[24] In her songs, Diawara has addressed issues such as the pain of emigration; a need for mutual respect; the struggles of African women; life under the rule of religious fundamentalists, and the practice of female circumcision.