Garvey was employed as a medical records clerk in a finance company, as a trainee for an advertising agency and as a receptionist, before becoming a promotions assistant for Radio Wyvern, where she later became news editor before leaving in 1988 to join BBC Hereford and Worcester as a reporter. The station began in February 1989. In that year, Garvey was presenter of "The Breakfast Show" at BBC Hereford and Worcester, where Ben Cooper (currently Controller of BBC Radio 1, digital station BBC 1Xtra, and BBC Asian Network) worked as her assistant.