Before becoming a full-time writer in 2014, McNish worked in Boots, Soul Tree nightclub, Little Chef, Mayhem Clothing Store, and for five years as Administrative Assistant and later Education Officer with the East of England Urban Design Centre, Shape East. Her first live poetry reading was at the basement open mic night Poetry Unplugged at
Poetry Café in Covent Garden. She has since performed worldwide at sell-out UK and international events, alongside a variety of artists at Edinburgh's
Neu!Reekie! events including
Charlotte Church,
Young Fathers,
Jackie Kay,
Kae Tempest and
Roger McGough. She has toured with poets Vanessa Kisuule and
Michael Pedersen. In 2014, McNish adopted the pseudonym
Hollie Poetry after online abuse led her to fear using her surname. She released one album under this pseudonym,
Versus, in September 2014, which was recorded at
Abbey Road Studios and making her the first poet to do so. which was performed in a one of live concert at
Cadogan Hall, London. In 2017, McNish returned to the use of her surname for all published works. In 2016, BBC Radio 4 ''
Woman's Hour broadcast a seven-part radio short documentary series hosted by McNish entitled Becoming a Mother: A Hot Cup of Tea with Hollie McNish'' which explored motherhood from many angles, including poverty, linguistic barriers, mothering as migrants and teenage parenting. In 2018, she was artist in residence at Chester's
Storyhouse. In 2019, McNish won the
Farrago Poetry Slam Championship. As well as live events, McNish is also an advocate for online poetry readings, and a number of McNish's
YouTube videos have gone viral. By 2015, her YouTube account had had over 4.1 million views. In 2020, during the
Coronavirus lockdown, McNish began her regular online event,
Poems in Pyjamas, streaming every Sunday night on her
Instagram and
Facebook channels. She is a patron of Baby Milk Action, a network of over 270 citizens groups in more than 160 countries whose aim is "to stop misleading marketing by the baby feeding industry... protect breastfeeding and babies fed on formula to prevent unnecessary death and suffering". ==Critical response==