At 18, Austin began specializing in swimsuit, lingerie and body modeling, for calendars, catalogs and videos. She won the 1998 Miss Ujena contest in Mexico. In 2001, Austin began working events and parties at the Playboy Mansion. She appeared in low-budget R-rated films, including Southwest Babes (2001), Desert Rose (2002), and The Dirty Monks (2004).

Austin and rapper-actor Tracy “Ice-T” Marrow were married in January 2002. They renewed their vows in Hollywood on June 4, 2011. In 2006, the couple made their home in a penthouse apartment they owned in North Bergen, New Jersey. In 2012, they initiated building a five-bedroom house in Edgewater, New Jersey, that was expected to be completed by the end of that year. The couple eventually moved into their home some time during 2018 and 2019. While waiting for the completion of their new home, in November 2015, the couple announced that their daughter Chanel Nicole had been born on November 28th. Baby Chanel Nicole now has her own Facebook page, Twitter & Instagram accounts.

She was featured in a layout in the March 2008 issue of Playboy magazine and had a role in the film Thira (a.k.a. Santorini Blue, which co-starred her husband). Austin appeared on NBC’s game show Celebrity Family Feud on June 24, 2008 (with winnings donated to charity). She and her husband, rapper-actor Ice-T, competed against Joan and Melissa Rivers.

Austin and Ice-T star in the reality television series Ice Loves Coco, which premiered on June 12, 2011, on E!. The show ran for three seasons, and ended in February 2014. After the show’s cancellation, tabloids reported that Austin and her husband were preparing to launch another reality series under Ryan Seacrest’s production company. She also made an appearance in rapper Lil’ Kim’s music video for her single “Go Awff” in 2019.