Michelle Power of Central MA on Life, Lessons & Legacy

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Michelle Power. Check out our conversation below.

Michelle, really appreciate you sharing your stories and insights with us. The world would have so much more understanding and empathy if we all were a bit more open about our stories and how they have helped shaped our journey and worldview. Let’s jump in with a fun one: When was the last time you felt true joy?
I took the dogs to the beach recently, and it was one of those days that just fills every part of you back up. Gracee — my youngest Sheepadoodle — was in her glory. She took in the sun, the sand, and the waves like she’d been waiting her whole life for that exact moment. I was tossing rocks into the surf, and she was bounding after them, smiling the whole time. Yes, she really smiles when she’s happy — you can see it in her whole face.
There’s something about watching her run free like that, just pure joy, no thinking, no fear — it reminds me what peace really feels like. Those moments bring such comfort and energy to my soul. It’s like the world quiets down just long enough to remind me that simple joy still exists, and that maybe that’s where healing really happens.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hi, I’m Michelle Power, the founder of Pawsitively 4 Pink, a nonprofit organization based in Worcester, Massachusetts. We provide financial assistance and emotional support to low-income and underserved women who are battling breast cancer — covering critical expenses like rent, utilities, groceries, and transportation so that healing can truly be their main focus.
What makes Pawsitively 4 Pink unique is how personal it is. Every woman we help becomes part of a community built on compassion, understanding, and empowerment. We don’t just write checks — we walk beside them through one of the hardest chapters of their lives, offering dignity, relief, and hope.
My background as a psychotherapist definitely influences the heart of our work. I’ve seen firsthand how emotional and financial stress are deeply connected, especially during illness. That understanding drives everything we do — from our Power to Thrive Program, which provides financial assistance for up to six months post-treatment, to our Pink Paws Project, which places comfort dogs with survivors or families touched by breast cancer.
Right now, we’re focused on expanding our reach throughout Massachusetts and beyond — growing partnerships, developing wellness-based initiatives, and creating new ways to support women beyond the diagnosis. My goal has always been simple: to ease burdens, restore hope, and remind every woman that she’s not walking this path alone.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
What breaks the bonds between people is usually pain that goes unspoken. When hurt, disappointment, or fear isn’t acknowledged, it builds quiet walls that start separating hearts long before anyone notices. We stop being curious about each other, stop listening, stop showing up when things get uncomfortable — and that distance grows roots.
What restores those bonds is truth told with tenderness. When someone finally says, “Here’s what hurt me,” or “Here’s what I was afraid of,” and the other person is willing to really hear it — that’s where healing starts. It’s not about perfection or pretending things didn’t happen; it’s about being seen, being accountable, and choosing to reconnect even when it’s awkward or messy.
At the end of the day, love and friendship survive not because people never break — but because they care enough to rebuild.

What fear has held you back the most in your life?
The fear that’s probably held me back the most in life is the fear of trust — not because I don’t want to trust people, but because I’ve seen how easily trust can be broken. When you’ve been hurt or disappointed enough times, you start to build quiet walls around the parts of you that feel most fragile.
For me, it’s not about holding grudges; it’s about self-protection. I’ve learned that most people’s inability to be trustworthy doesn’t come from malice — it comes from their own injuries, the things they haven’t healed in themselves. Knowing that helps me stay compassionate, but it doesn’t always make it easier to let my guard down.
Over time, though, I’ve realized that real connection can’t exist without some level of risk. Trusting again — carefully, intentionally — has been one of my hardest lessons, but also one of the most freeing.

I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What truths are so foundational in your life that you rarely articulate them?
That’s such a good question — and one I don’t think people ask themselves often enough. For me, one of the truths that’s so foundational I rarely even say it out loud is that people just want to feel seen and safe. Everything we do — the good, the bad, the self-sabotaging — usually comes from trying to protect or find those two things.
Another truth is that healing isn’t linear, and strength doesn’t always look graceful. Sometimes it looks like just getting through the day, or finally admitting that you’re tired of pretending you’re fine. There’s a quiet kind of courage in that honesty.
And maybe the one that feels most personal is this: love doesn’t have to look perfect to be real. The best parts of life are rarely tidy. They’re messy, emotional, human — and that’s where all the beauty and connection live. You just have to have faith, or at least hope, that someone is willing to do the messy with you — because that’s the only way real change ever happens.

Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What do you understand deeply that most people don’t?
What I understand deeply — and what I think a lot of people don’t — is how important it is to really work through and understand the person you are through all your pain. Most people want to move past their hurt as fast as possible, but the truth is, that pain is the doorway to everything real — self-awareness, compassion, growth. You can’t heal what you don’t face.
I’ve learned that when you take the time to understand where your patterns come from, what shaped you, and how you’ve learned to protect yourself, you stop fighting yourself so much. You start seeing your story with more kindness instead of shame.
And when you finally get to a place where you can love and honor yourself — not just the pretty parts, but the broken ones too — life gets lighter. It becomes easier to accept other people’s flaws because you’re no longer expecting them to fill the gaps you’ve already learned to hold yourself.
That kind of peace changes everything.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.pawsitively4pink.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pawsitively4pink
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pawsitively4pink
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pawsitively4pink