[1] After graduating from China Conservatory of Music in the same year, she started her singing career in the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Political Department of the People's Liberation Army Navy.

Yao was best known for recording the soundtracks and theme songs of movies and TV shows, such as Empresses in the Palace, Painted Skin: The Resurrection, and Back to 1942.

Her father, Yao Feng (姚峰; Yáo Fēng), was an associate professor at Wuhan Conservatory of Music[4] and her mother, Li Xinmin (李信敏; Lǐ Xìnmǐn), was a vocalist of the Hubei Song and Dance Ensemble.

[7] She was first found to have absolute pitch by her father when she was six years old as she could accurately identify keys by listening to the piano, and this ability was validated by several noteworthy musicians during her singing career later.

[15] In 2005, Yao was selected as the diva of musical Jin Sha (金沙), the plot of which was based on the discovery of the archaeological site Jinsha, and gained recognition from the public.

In 2006, Yao won the second place of pop singing in the 12th CCTV National Young Singer Contest, the most prestigious singing contest in China at that time, and assisted in Song Zuying's concert at Kennedy Center, Washington D.C.[18][19] In 2007, she stepped onto the stage of the CCTV New Year's Gala, the biggest and most well-known gala in China, for the first time.

[24][25] In March 2013, Yao was invited to return to the 15th CCTV National Young Singer Contest as the youngest judge.

[32] In April 2011, Yao noticed a faint trace resembling a dimple on her left breast and visited several hospitals for diagnosis, yet no examination results showed abnormalities.

[33] With her experience of treating atypical hyperplasia when she was in college, Yao doubted the good results and returned to Dr. Cao Yingming (曹迎明) from the People's Hospital Affiliated to Peking University, the only doctor who recommended surgery.

[39] By sharing her own experiences treating breast cancer, she aimed to inspire the patients to build confidence to overcome the disease.

[39] On December 9, 2013, Yao released the extended play Half of Me (1/2的我), including a song "Fire of the Heart" (心火) describing her struggle and pain when she fought breast cancer in the past two years.

[34] On October 23, 2014, despite coughing up blood backstage, Yao performed "Fish" (鱼), the finale of her stage career, at the recording scene of the musical reality TV show Hi Song.

A series of six auctions titled "Let Love Endure with the Angel Among Us" (“天使在人间——让爱延续”) achieved white glove sales (100% of the lots sold), and the proceeds in total reached RMB 2,511,027.16 yuan, all donated to the Secondary School of Tashkurgan, Xinjiang, China, and dedicated to renovations, music classrooms, and scholarships to support music education in rural area.

The main body of the statue is cast in cupronickel with a base height of 0.926 meters and an overall height of 1.81 meters, a deliberate reference to Yao's date of birth (September 26, 1981); on the base of the statue is an inscription by Yao's parents: "A girl who loves to sing, a girl who sings with her life" (一个爱唱歌的女孩，一个用生命歌唱的女孩).

On April 9, 2015, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) Minor Planet Center officially named the asteroid No.

41981 as Yaobeina in memory of Yao, suggested by William Kwong Yu Yeung, an amateur astronomer who first discovered this asteroid at Desert Beaver on December 28, 2000.

Yao wished to perform in the musical reality TV show I Am a Singer produced by Hunan Television when she was alive.

On April 12, 2019, in the finals of Singer Season 7, Liu Huan (刘欢), the writer and producer of the soundtracks of Empresses in the Palace, performed a medley of three of Yao's songs, "Golden Silk Blouse" (金缕衣), "Bodhisattva" (菩萨蛮), and "Flying Phoenix" (凤凰于飞), by playing Yao's vocal track in "Golden Silk Blouse" (金缕衣) at the beginning and the end of his performance in memory of her.