[5] In the early 1940s she worked as a model and as a personal maid, and she developed a one-woman show, An Evening with Maxine Powell, which she performed with a group at the Chicago Theatre.
She and Gordy became friends, and in the early 1960s he asked her opinion of the young artists that had signed with his record company, Motown.
When Motown expanded into new offices in 1966, she was hired to work in the company's department of artist personal development, teaching artists such as Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Marvin Gaye, the Jackson 5 and the Supremes, whose Mary Wilson stated Powell taught them more than stage presence, but "tools for us as human beings".
Powell left Motown in 1969 and taught personal development courses from 1971 until 1985 at Wayne County Community College.
Her health steadily declined until her death of natural causes on October 14, 2013, at the age of 98 at Providence Hospital in Southfield, Michigan.