Polly Gillespie is a household name thanks to her 30+ years as a radio and TV personality and published writer in Aotearoa.
Born in South Auckland, Polly grew up in Papatoetoe, Christchurch and Hamilton where - to her surprise and delight - she graduated high school with academic honours. She secured a talent scholarship to study theatre in the United States, where, amidst copious amounts of parting and ‘goofing off’ she also studied linguistics and a postgraduate degree in English.
She returned to New Zealand, and somewhat reluctantly, applied to be a trainee cadet announcer for RNZ, a role she initially turned down. But when the opportunity presented itself again the prestige (and the temptation to challenge the patriarchy) of being the only woman chosen made her leap at the chance.
Polly holds the accolade of co-hosting New Zealand’s longest-running breakfast radio show on ZM breakfast, which she hosted alongside Grant Kereama from 1991 until 2014. They then became part of the MediaWorks family with More FM, and then rova.
As well as being a stalwart of New Zealand radio, Polly is also a prolific published writer having contributed to Woman’s Day magazine for over 15 years with her popular ‘agony aunt’ column, being a regular columnist for Woman magazine in 2021 and publishing her first novel - a memoir entitled The Misadventures of Polly Gillespie.
In March she returns to her radio roots with her self-titled show Polly - a deeply personal night show where she’ll engage with listeners on everything from heartache to headaches - and everything in between!
Polly writes a weekly column for the Sunday Star Times and is working on a podcast that is coming soon to rova.
In her downtime, Polly reads everything from Stephen King to Ernest Hemmingway, is a war history enthusiast, and loves watching boxing, UFC and rugby. She prides herself on being a great listener - and being able to make new friends and meaningful connections in under five minutes (sometimes as quickly as it takes to ride 10 floors in a lift!).
