Hayes was born and raised in Dublin. She has an older sister and two older brothers. She graduated from Dublin City University in 2007, where she served as deputy president of the Student Union, with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. She then took classes at the Irish Writers’ Centre.

Hayes moved to London in 2012. She currently lives with Dodie Clark. She is bisexual.

Hayes began her interview series, Tipsy Talk in 2013. She also became notable for her short films and web series. Her 2014 short film Dementia was nominated and won a work shop competition with Guillermo Del Toro. In 2017, she directed Fullscreen series Prank Me starring Corey Fogelmanis. The series earned her a Excellence in Storytelling award at the 2017 Buffer Festival. Her other work includes her vlogs Time of the Month, web series Unnecessary Otter, pilot Hot Mess, and short films Super Brainy Zombies and Septem. She directed dodie’s music video for her song “Human” in 2018 and Anna Akana’s 2019 “Disappointment” music video.

In November 2018, Hayes announced her debut novel, Out of Love, a romance novel she would publish through Unbound. It was announced on its release date in June 2020 that Rabbit Track Pictures had picked up the rights to the novel, with Hayes writing and Kitty Kaletsky overseeing the adaption.

Hayes began hosting Prime Video Club alongside Munya Chawawa for Amazon Prime Video in April 2020, a series discussing various series and films on the platform.