She was born in Târgoviște, Romania, and graduated from "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" High School in Iași. After getting a BA in Electronics Engineering from Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iași in 1980 she worked in computer sciences. Popeanu was a 1989 Romanian revolutionary. She immigrated to Canada in 1992. She taught computer engineering for Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys for many years.