Winkler was born in Graz/Austria in 1988. She studied jazz singing at the Art University of Graz and composition at the Jazz Institute Berlin with John Hollenbeck. Already during her studies she was a member of the Jazzwerkstatt Graz and active in local jazz projects. In 2010 her debut album „Umami“ with her own compositions was released. She has been living in Berlin since 2011 and founded the jazz-folk-pop band Holler My Dear, with whom she released the albums “Have You Seen the Troll?”, “Eat, Drink & Be Merry” and “Steady as She Goes” (all on Traumton Records). In 2017 Winkler and her band visited Iran at the invitation of the Austrian Cultural Forum.
In 2014 she released the album „Paperclips“ with her Wabi-Sabi Orchestra (Traumton Records).
Winkler sings in Max Andrzejewski’s Hütte & Chor and in the Ensemble O. with the singers Friederike Merz, Cansu Tanrikulu and Dora Osterloh. For years she has been composing for theatre and modern dance (zB. Sophiensäle, HAU, Radialsystem V, Tao!) and has worked as arranger and composer for the Metropole Orkest, Ricciotti Ensemble and the Graz Composers Orchestra, among others. In 2021 Winkler was commissioned to compose for the Austrian opera project Die lange Nacht von Allerheiligen and for Käfigkonzerte Wien.
She is a member of the Berlin Collective for Composed and Improvised Music (KIM), which has been organizing an own festival since 2013. Since 2018, KIM has been commissioned to realize concerts, performances and videos as part of the Berlin Jazz Festival. In 2020, Winkler received a composition commission for voice and orchestra from the festival “Musik in der Pforte” in Feldkirch/Vorarlberg in Austria, and sang the world premiere with the Pforte Chamber Orchestra and musicians from the Vorarlberg State Conservatory as well as the Iberacademy/Colombia and the Mangaung String Program.