Carly was born and raised in Taupo and lived in Rarotonga as a teenager. She completed a Bachelor of Media Arts majoring in journalism from Waikato Polytech (now WINTEC) and a Diploma in Journalism from the Journalists Training Organisation. She has travelled extensively including a stint living and working in Dublin, Ireland.

Carly became a reporter for 3 News in 2003 before later becoming the Nightline newsreader and then a co-anchor for Sunrise. After this she worked as a radio announcer for The Breeze and later co-hosted consumer television show Target. Carly was more recently involved with television show Cook the Books alongside kiwi chefs, cooks and food writers.