Life Story of Martha Stewart

Martha was born on August 3, 1941 in New Jersey City, New Jersey. She was christened Martha Helen Kostyra by her parents. Her father was Edward Kostyra and mother was Martha Kostyra. Martha’s family was Polish-American by origin. Martha inherited her work ethic from her parents. Her family shifted to Nutley, New Jersey when she was three years old. Stewart had five siblings – one sister and four brothers. Her mother taught her sewing, gardening and cooking. Her neighbors taught her the art of baking.

Martha was a good student in high school. She bagged a semi-scholarship to Barnard College in New York City. She specialized in Chemistry and later took Architectural history and European history. To help meet her expenses she worked as a model. She married Andrew Stewart while still in college. Martha gave birth to a daughter, Alexis in 1965. She was a stockbroker in Wall Street in 1967 and got her license in 1968. At the same time her husband took up a publishing business. She left Wall Street when the market was in a poor state in 1973.

Her family shifted to Westport, Connecticut afterwards. Martha started restoring a 19th century farmhouse, which they had acquired. She learnt cooking from Julia Child’s ‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking'. In 1976 she decided to embark on a catering business. Her first order was for catering to a marriage ceremony. Her business was an enormous success commercially. As her fame spread her business flourished. In Westport she inaugurated a specialty foods store. Martha published articles for the New York Times. She was promoted to the post of editor for their home and house section. She later moved on to writing books on food and entertaining, decorating and home restoration. Stewart's first book was 'Entertaining'. Her other books included Martha Stewart’s Christmas, Martha Stewart’s Quick Cook Menus, Martha Stewart’s Wedding Planner and Martha Stewart’s Hors d’Oeuvres.

Martha and her husband were separated for three years and eventually divorced in 1990. The same year she was a regular correspondent for the Today Show. Martha soon had her own magazine and talk show, ‘Martha Stewart Living’ which began in 1991. The prestigious New York Magazine declared her ‘the definitive American woman of our time’ in 1995. In 1996, Stewart was on the list of People magazine’s ‘50 most beautiful people in the world’ The same year she was on the list of ‘America’s Most Influential People"’. In 1999 she made her company public. The show ‘Martha Stewart Living’ continued till 2004. For the show she won the Daytime Emmy For Outstanding Service Show in 2001, 2003 and 2004. Martha was taking part in the movies and television business as well. Stewart also owned a multi-million dollar empire known as Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc.

Martha was probed for insider training in 2002. She was found guilty of conspiracy, securities fraud and obstruction of justice involving her selling of ImClone stock in 2004. She had sold the stock because she had received insider information that the stock was about to fall in value. She was fined 30,000 dollars. She was sentenced to two years probation, five months of house arrest and five months in jail.

Martha's life is story of grit and determination and demonstrates that a strong willed woman can achieve almost anything. She is an inspiration to woman across all the globe. May there be many Martha Stewarts championing the women's cause.