[1] She attended secondary school at Waid Academy in Anstruther and then continued her studies in Media and Communication at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh.

[3] In December 2021, Bowman appeared in an episode of Celebrity Antiques Road Trip, alongside fellow Radio 2 broadcaster Mark Radcliffe.

In April 2004 this show moved from a weekend morning slot to weekday afternoons, broadcasting between 13:00 and 16:00, after the departure of Mark and Lard from the station.

In August 2006, Bowman became the sole occupier of the BBC Radio 1 afternoon 13:00 to 16:00 slot, with Murray taking over a late-night specialist music programme.

In September 2008, she returned to the station after maternity leave, initially taking over from Dick and Dom on the Sunday Morning Lie In from 10:00 to 13:00.

[6] In February 2012, it was announced that Bowman was being replaced by Gemma Cairney on Weekend Breakfast, and would move to Tuesday evenings, in order to take over The Review Show, from DJ Nihal.

In November 2012, she started co-hosting a Saturday morning show on BBC Radio 6 Music, alongside Adam Buxton.

Bowman was an occasional stand-in presenter of Kermode and Mayo's Film Review on BBC Radio 5 Live, on BBC Radio 2 she also provides holiday cover for its presenters including Jo Whiley, Sara Cox, Gary Davies on Sounds of the 80s, and Fearne Cotton on Sounds of the 90s.

[10] In 2005, Bowman presented BBC Scotland's coverage of the Live 8 event at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, and hosted the network's T in the Park programmes with Dougie Anderson who had also worked on RI:SE.

On 11 March 2005 she won the TV talent show Comic Relief Does Fame Academy, a charity music contest in which she sang "Champagne Supernova" with Jools Holland's band.

The show also featured Al Murray, Kim Medcalf, Adrian Edmondson, Jon Culshaw, Konnie Huq, Dawn Steele, and other celebrities.