Since 2005, Lima has ranked in the top five of Forbes’ lists of the 20 highest-earning models in the world, and in 2006 ranked No.99 on the Forbes Celebrity 100. Lima never thought about being a model, although she had won many beauty pageants in elementary school. Both sent in pictures, and the contest sponsor soon asked Lima to come out for the competition. Soon after, at the age of 15, she entered and finished in first place in Ford’s “Supermodel of Brazil” model search. Lima became a GUESS. Lima continued to build upon her portfolio, doing more print work for Maybelline, for whom she worked as a spokesmodel from 2003 until 2009, the same year she appeared in the company’s first calendar, a limited edition run also featuring Kemp Muhl, Jessica White, Julia Stegner, and Anna Wang. She also appeared on the covers and in the editorials of other fashion magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, GQ, Arena, Vogue, V, Esquire and French Revue des Modes. in 2007 and 2008, she ranked as the world’s fourth highest paid supermodel by Forbes Magazine.