Barbaro began her career as a ballet dancer ultimately giving it up to pursue acting She portrayed the character of Yael on the second season of the Lifetime television series UnREAL Yael was also known as Hot Rachel a nemesis to the character portrayed by Shiri Appleby Following her work on UnREAL Barbaro joined the cast as a lead of the new NBC legal drama Chicago Justice an entry in Dick Wolfs Chicago franchise where she portrayed Anna Valdez a welleducated whipsmart quicktongued and sharpwitted Assistant States Attorney Barbaro plays the recurring role of Lisa Apple Martins new girlfriend in the ABC sitcom Splitting Up Together She had her first lead role in the viral short film Its not about the Nail