Studied art history, Romance languages and German language and literature at the University of Bonn and the Sorbonne in Paris, graduating with a master's degree from the Sorbonne on the subject Victor Regnault (1810-78) – Oeuvre Photographique.

1996 Assistant at Galerie Kicken, Cologne
1997 to 2006 Head of the Photography Department at Kunsthaus Lempertz, Cologne
2007 to 2015 Director of the Photography Department at Sotheby's Europe, with auctions in Paris, London, and New York

Responsible for auctions of historical, classical, and contemporary photography: 2008 La Photographie IV: Collection André et Marie-Thérèse Jammes, focusing on 19th-century French and British photography; 2015 Man Ray in collaboration with the Man Ray Trust, New York.

Auction world records for photographs by Bernd and Hilla Becher, Josef Sudek, Eugène Atget, Helmut Newton, Irving Penn, August Sander, Leni Riefenstahl, John Beasley Greene, among others.

2015 to 2017 International Director of the Print Sales Department at Magnum Photos, based in Paris: sale of vintage prints and contemporary photographs; programming for the galleries in Paris and London and trade fair participation; curator of exhibitions at the Paris gallery; international client development; selling strategy for Martin Parr, Josef Koudelka, Sergio Larrain, Paolo Pellegrin, among others; cooperation with Magnum photographers and estates.

She is a member of the curatorial committee of Photo London as well as a nominator for the Prix Pictet and The Leica Oscar Barnack Award, director of the jury to the Felix Schoeller Photo Award, jury member for the Hendrik teNeues Photography Award and lectures at the Donau University in Krems, Austria.

Since 2018, independent expert and appraiser for Photographs from the 19th to 21st centuries (Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Cologne) and works with prestigious private and institutional clients in Europe.

Since 2021, she has also been running her Showroom Fotografie in Cologne, where she exhibits classic and contemporary photography.

Simone is member of the German Photographic Society (DGPh e.V.) and the Association of Independent Art Experts and Appraisers  (VUKS e.V.).