About

About Penny to Power

Hi, I’m Maya Collins, and I am so glad you found this corner of the internet.

Let’s be completely honest right from the start: I am not a financial advisor. I don’t have an economics degree, and I’ve never worked on Wall Street.

What I do have is something better: I have been exactly where you are right now, and I remember exactly what it feels like.

The $11 Balance

When I was 29, on a freezing Tuesday in November, I checked my banking app while hiding in the far corner of a grocery store parking lot.

The balance read $11.00.

Rent was due in four days, my fridge was empty, and my life—which looked completely fine from the outside—felt like a total lie. I drove home, sat on my bathroom floor, and just cried. I wasn’t just panicked about rent; I was carrying the deep shame of a woman who worked hard but still ended up broke every single month.

That bathroom floor was the last place I ever let shame run my relationship with money.

How I Fixed the Leak

I didn’t download a fancy budgeting app. Instead, I sat at my kitchen table with three months of bank statements and highlighted every transaction without judging myself.

I discovered a slow leak: over $300 a month disappearing into forgotten subscriptions and mindless micro-purchases.

I fixed the leak, built a simple plan, and started automating a $50 savings transfer the exact hour my paycheck arrived. The world didn’t end, but my cycle of financial panic did. Over the next few years, I realized a massive truth: the gap between women who feel secure and women who feel left behind is rarely about income.

It is almost always about the system.

Turning Pennies Into Power

I looked everywhere for a personal finance blog that talked about money like a real friend—with warmth, honesty, and zero toxic positivity. I couldn’t find it, so I built it.

Every budgeting tip and saving strategy I write on PennyToPower.com has to pass one strict test: Would this have helped me on that bathroom floor?

Today, I am 36. I check my bank balance every morning without a single trace of dread. Financial emergencies are now just an inconvenience, not a life crisis.

If you are currently sitting on your own metaphorical bathroom floor, take a deep breath. You are in the right place. Let’s turn your pennies into power. 💛

— Maya Collins

Founder, PennyToPower.com

Contact: maya@pennytopower.com

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