Yoo was brought into the public eye as a K-pop trainee contestant in "Produce 101," (2016), an Mnet-created K-pop survival show with 101 female K-pop trainees from various agencies. Yoo made the final top 11 and debuted as a member of the project girl group I.O.I. Yoo joined girl group WSJN, a Starship Entertainment creation, in June 2016, while she was also a member of I.O.I. The other 12 members of WSJN had debuted a few months earlier. Though I.O.I disbanded after one year according to the contract, Yoo continued her career as a K-pop singer as a member of WJSN. The group's latest music is EP titled "Sequence" (2022). In 2022, Yoo made her debut as a musical theatre actor through a role in the four-person show "Lizzie."