 She completed her Master's in Applied Statistics from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, before working as a jingle singer for three years.During her college days, Mithoon offered her to record the song "Tose Naina" from "Anwar" (2007), making her Bollywood career debut.Rao rose to widespread prominence with the release of Woh Ajnabi from "The Train" 2007 and "Khuda Jaane" from "Bachna Ae Haseeno" (2008).