Powys was born in
Cardiff. A native
Welsh speaker after being educated at
Ysgol Gyfun Llanhari, Powys joined BBC Wales as a News Trainee in 1989, before joining the newsroom in
Cardiff as a bilingual, bi-media reporter. Moving to Current Affairs in 1994 she reported undercover, where one investigation required her to pose as one half of a
swinging couple in the "Garden of Eden", a West Wales
brothel. Powys then presented the Welsh language news programme
Newyddion, was chief reporter on the European current affairs series , and joined
Huw Edwards to front
United Kingdom national election specials. Powys was lent for a period to
BBC One's flagship current affairs programme
Panorama, during which time she returned to Wales to give birth to her daughter. Her first report for
Panorama was an investigation into the way
Jehovah's Witnesses deal with allegations of child abuse, while her first worldwide exclusive occurred when she persuaded the commanding officer of 30
Royal Welch Fusiliers held hostage in
Goražde,
Bosnia, to allow her to interview colleagues and friends, agreeing to his condition that the programme would be broadcast only "in the Gaelic tongue." From 11 September 2006, Powys replaced the retiring David Williams, and took editorial charge of all BBC Wales' daily political output ahead of the
Welsh Assembly elections in 2007. She resigned from this role in June 2013. Powys is a frequent contributor to Radio Cymru's popular and is regarded as a stalwart of the programme, adding much to its 'flagship' status as the BBC's most prestigious Bangor-produced daily news broadcasts. She was appointed Editor of Programmes (in effect, director) of BBC Radio Cymru in May 2013, taking up her post from July 2013. Since leaving the BBC, Powys has returned to broadcasting for both television and radio. In December 2019 she joined
Dewi Llwyd and
Vaughan Roderick as co-presenter for
S4C and
BBC Radio Cymru's coverage of the
2019 General Election (
Etholiad 2019). During the Election campaign Powys also fronted
The Leaders Lounge for
BBC Radio Wales. In July 2020, she replaced Llwyd as presenter of , a Welsh-language equivalent to
Question Time). ==Personal life==