Powers is a fan of Star Trek: The Original Series and bought her first television to watch the series. At this time she was working as an actress in New York. She met Dorothy Fontana while working with her on the television series Logan's Run and Fantastic Journey (which starred Ike Eisenman) in the late 1970s and received a call from Fontana during the pre-production for The Next Generation. Powers also wrote for television series such as Kung Fu, How the West Was Won, Young Pioneers, Petrocelli, Fantasy Island, and Airwolf as well as several television movies.