Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart is a controversial American media mogul who seems to have seen all sides of being in the media industry. Born as Martha Kostyra on 3rd August; 1941 in Jersey City, New Jersey she was second of the six children of the Kostyra family. Though born in Jersey City, she actually grew up in Nutley- a working-class community near New York City. A girl who knew what she was and wanted to be, Martha took up modeling when she was just 13 years of age and appeared in numerous fashion shows and television and print advertisements.

She learned at the Barnard College in Manhattan where she earned a degree in ‘European and Architectural history’. She met her future husband, Andy Stewart at her college only and the two dated briefly before getting married in 1961, a year before she finally completed her degree. The couple had a daughter named Alexis and being the career oriented woman she was, Martha started to work as a stockbroker for a boutique firm after her daughter completed 6 years. She worked there till 1972 after which the family moved to Connecticut and bought and restored a 19th-century farmhouse.

Post this, Martha changed her field of interest to cooking and focussed her energies on gourmet cooking. In her words, her inspiration and teacher was Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. She started her catering business later and soon made a mark for herself, thanks to her unique and creative gourmet menus and the presentation of the cuisine. She named her business as Martha Stewart Inc. which grew into a $1 billion in very less time having big names of the corporate and Hollywood celebrities on her client list.

Stewart being ambitious did not restrict herself to gourmet cooking and expanded into the domain of writing. Her initial book was entertaining which turned into a hit and was taken after Martha Stewart's Hors d'Oeuvres, Martha Stewart's Quick Cook Menus, Martha Stewart's Wedding Planner and Martha Stewart's Christmas.However, this took a toll on her personal life and she divorced her husband Andy Stewart in 1990 after a bitter separation that lasted for three years. Martha Stewart expanded her business domain further and turned Martha Stewart Inc. into Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. after she released her first magazine Martha Stewart Living.

She later added one more magazine, a checkout size recipe booklet, a popular cable television, newspaper column, DIY books, radio show and an Internet site resulting in a total $763 million in annual retail sales. Things were going well but she had her share of courtroom trials and brushes with the law too, so much that she was jailed and faced house arrest also. The lady resigned from her duties at Omnimedia hence but made a strong come back later as the host of a popular daytime show. Her cameos on the TV series too left the stars in awe of her for the same reason that she succeeded. She is an iron lady and we salute her resolve.