She both played solo and performed with others, including Yegor Letov and bands Grazhdanskaya Oborona and Velikiye Oktyabri ("Great Octobers").

Her songs explored themes of desperation and depression, punk-style nihilism, and folk-like lamentations.

In 1984 she entered the Novosibirsk Institute of Water Transport Engineers, but dropped out in her sophomore year.

In April 1987, Yanka met Egor Letov and joined his band Grazhdanskaya Oborona (Gr.Ob.).

Her first performance before a large audience took place on 24 June 1988, at a punk festival in Tyumen, recorded in the bootleg album To the Drop-Outs (Russian: Деклассированным элементам).

Dyagileva's final known public appearances took place in November 1990 in Irkutsk, Angarsk, and Leningrad.

[5] The exact time, place, and conditions surrounding Dyagileva's death remain unknown.