For actress Lupita Nyong’o, winning an Oscar for “12 Years a Slave” back in 2014 set her on a very different career path.

“My life has definitely changed,” Nyong’o said on Yahoo Finance’s The First Trade. “It was the start of my career and it's put me in a position to make the choices I've made to date. To be on this couch right now would not have been possible without ‘12 Years a Slave’ so I'm eternally grateful.”

After the big win for best supporting actress, Nyong’o says she was able to make career choices that seemed out of reach as a struggling young actress.

“Obviously, I have more money than I ever have had in the past. And so that took some getting used to,” Nyong’o told Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi. “Before my career started, I was counting the number of dollars just to get a [NYC subway] Metrocard.”

Now though she has more freedom as an artist — and a different relationship with money.

“Adjusting to my spending power has been something I've had to do and do it consciously. But I've always felt that, at the end of the day, money is not the thing that makes me happy, but what it gives me access to,” she said. “And so I have grown as slowly as I have needed to, to get to a place where I could feel comfortable in my spending.”

Nyong’o says she’s very protective of her brand, but recently signed on as a spokeswoman for Delta (DAL) SkyMiles American Express (AXP) Cards.

“I think about authenticity what feels real for me, that's why for me, this partnership was a no brainer because I fly Delta all the time and use this card and it makes my travel so easy,” she said. “So when they came approached me I was like, Oh, yeah, I can definitely speak to this because I don't have to really, I don't have to try.”

As for the future, she knows she has to be careful with money and prepared for any rainy days.

“I do think about saving for retirement,” she said. “It's a habit that my mother instilled in me very young and I do think saving is really important.”

“I want to have choice in my career and that takes some financial responsibility to be able to say no.”

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