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Martha Stewart
Born	Martha Helen Kostyra (1941-08-03) August 3, 1941 (age 83) Nutley, New Jersey
Occupation(s)	Self-made entrepreneur; television and magazine personality
Spouse	Andrew Stewart (divorced)
Children	Alexis Stewart
Website	marthastewart.com

Martha Stewart (born as Martha Helen Kostyra on August 3, 1941) is an American business magnate, author, editor and homemaking advocate. She is also a former stockbroker and fashion model. Over the last two decades Stewart has held a prominent position in the American publishing industry; as the author of several books, hundreds of articles on the domestic arts, editor of a national homekeeping magazine, host for two popular daytime television programs, and commercial spokeswoman for K-Mart. In 2001 she was named the third most powerful woman in America by Ladies Home Journal. In 2004 she was convicted of lying to investigators about a stock sale and served five months in prison.

Biography

Martha Stewart was born in Jersey City, New Jersey to middle-class Polish-American parents Edward "Eddie" Kostyra (c. 1912 – 1979) and Martha Ruszkowski Kostyra (b. Buffalo, New York, September 16 1914 – d. Norwalk, Connecticut, November 16 2007). Stewart, along with her five siblings, was raised in Nutley, New Jersey. Stewart graduated from Nutley High School in her hometown.

Instilled with a strong passion promoted by her parents, Stewart mastered traits that many would consider common household chores. Stewart's mother taught her how to cook and sew. Later, she learned the processes of canning and preserving when she visited her grandparents' home in Buffalo, New York. Her father had a passion for gardening, and passed on much of his knowledge and expertise to his daughter.

Stewart was also active in many extracurricular activities, such as the school newspaper and the Art Club. During this time, Stewart began a modelling career. She was hired and appeared in several television commercials and magazines, including one of Tareyton's famous "Rather fight than switch" cigarette advertisements. Finishing with straight As, she was awarded a partial scholarship to Barnard College in New York City.

Initially she intended to major in Chemistry, but switched to Art and European History, and later Architectural History. It was around this time that she met and later married her husband, Andrew "Andy" Stewart, on July 1 1961. After marrying Andrew Stewart, Martha left Barnard for one year, and continued her moderately-successful modeling career, while her husband finished his law degree at Yale Law School. She returned to Barnard a year later, to graduate with a double major in History and Architectural History. In 1965 her only child, daughter Alexis Stewart was born.

At this time, Stewart began to hone and develop her business skills. In 1967, she became a stockbroker. She was very successful until she left the profession in 1973, in order to focus more time on her daughter, and to restore her new home in Connecticut. It has been suggested that a scandal involving the furniture company Levitz may have contributed to her decision to leave the firm of Monness, Horstman, Williams, and Sidel. Several Principals at the firm allegedly received kick-backs from Levitz for selling stock in the financially-troubled company. Stewart and her husband decided to move to Westport, Connecticut. They purchased and undertook a massive restoration of the 1805 farmhouse on Turkey Hill Road that would later become the model for the set of the Martha Stewart Living television program. Stewart and her husband undertook the entire venture by themselves. During the project, Stewart’s panache for restoring and decorating became apparent.

In 1976 Stewart started a catering business in her basement with a friend from her modelling days, Norma Collier. The venture quickly became successful, but soured when Collier alleged that Stewart was difficult to work with, and was also taking catering jobs on the side. Stewart soon bought her portion of the business. Stewart was also hired as the manager of a gourmet food store, The Market Basket at the Common Market which she transformed into a booming success.

Meanwhile, Stewart's husband had become the president of prominent New York City publisher Harry N. Abrams, Inc. In 1977, Andy Stewart was responsible for releasing the English-language edition of The Secret Book of Gnomes series, by Dutch authors Wil Huygen and Rien Poortvliet which quickly became a blockbuster success and New York Times Best Seller. Andy Stewart contracted Stewart's company to cater the book release party, where she was introduced to Alan Mirken, the head of Crown Publishing Group. Mirken was impressed by Stewart's talent and later contacted her to develop a cookbook featuring recipes and photos from the parties that Stewart hosted. The result was Entertaining, ghostwritten by long-time fashion maven Elizabeth Hawes.

From there, word of her skills and business grew rapidly. Entertaining became a New York Times Best Seller, and the best selling cookbook since Julia Child and Simone Beck's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, released two decades earlier.

Rise to fame and career

Following Entertaining's success Stewart released many more books under the Clarkson Potter publishing imprint, including Martha Stewart's Quick Cook (1983), Martha Stewart's Hors D'oeuvres (1984), Martha Stewart's Pies & Tarts (1985), Weddings (1987), The Wedding Planner (1988), Martha Stewart's Quick Cook Menus (1988), Martha Stewart's Christmas (1989), and many others]. During this time she also authored dozens of newspaper columns, magazine articles and other pieces on homemaking, and made numerous television appearances on programs such as The Oprah Winfrey Show and Larry King Live. She divorced her husband in 1989.

In 1990 she also signed with Time Publishing Ventures to develop a new magazine, Martha Stewart Living, for which Stewart served as editor in chief. The first issue was released in late 1990 with an initial rate base of 250,000. Circulation would peak in 2002 at more than 2 million copies per issue. In 1993, she began a weekly half-hour service program based on her magazine, which was quickly expanded to a full hour, and later to a daily format, with half-hour episodes on weekends. Stewart also became a frequent contributor to CBS's The Early Show, and starred in several prime time holiday specials on the CBS network.

On the cover of their May 1995 issue, New York Magazine declared her as "the definitive American woman of our time."

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia

In September 1997, Stewart, with the assistance of business partner Sharon Patrick, was able to secure funding to purchase the various television, print, and merchandising ventures related to the Martha Stewart brand, and consolidate them into a new company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Stewart served as chairwoman, president, and CEO of the new company and Patrick became Chief Operations Officer. By organizing all of the brand's assets under one roof, Stewart felt that it would promote synergy and greater control of the brand's direction through the business' activities. That same month Stewart announced in Martha Stewart Living the launch of a companion website, marthastewart.com, and a catalogue business, Martha by Mail. The company also has a direct to consumer floral business, marthastewartflowers.com.

On October 19, 1999, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia went public on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol MSO. The initial public offering was set at $18 per share, and rallied to $38 by the end of trading, making Stewart a billionaire on paper. The stock price slowly went down to $16 per share by February 2002. Stewart was then and continues to be the majority shareholder, with a commanding 96% control of voting power in the company.

Criminal conviction

According to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission allegations and a federal indictment, Stewart avoided a loss of $45,673 by selling all 3,928 shares of her ImClone stock. The day following her sale, the stock value fell 16%.

Prosecutors alleged that Peter Bacanovic, Stewart's broker at Merrill Lynch, ordered his assistant to tell Stewart that the CEO of ImClone Systems was selling all his shares in advance of an adverse Food and Drug Administration ruling. The FDA action was expected to cause ImClone shares to decline. After a highly publicized jury trial, Stewart was convicted in 2004 of criminal conspiracy for lying to authorities about the sale. She served five months in prison followed by five months of house arrest and two years of probation. She also paid a fine of US$30,000.

In August 2006, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it had agreed to settle the related civil case against Stewart. Under the settlement, Stewart agreed to a five-year bar from serving as a director, or as the CEO, CFO (or other officer roles in which she would be responsible for preparing, auditing, or disclosing financial results), of any public company.

Current projects

Following her release from prison in March 2005, Stewart launched a highly publicized comeback, and was once again involved in Martha Stewart Living. Offerings of her company's Martha Stewart Everyday line at Kmart were expanded to include a new line of ready-made home furnishings, and its mass market interior paint line became available at larger Sears stores. However, the most heavily promoted aspect of her attempted comeback is television. Stewart returned to daytime television with The Martha Stewart Show and appeared in an adapted version of The Apprentice (called The Apprentice: Martha Stewart). Both shows premiered in September 2005, and both were produced by Mark Burnett. The Martha Stewart Show is currently in its second season.

Her prime time Apprentice spin-off received poor ratings, which some attribute to popular dislike for the opportunistic tone of the network's massive promotional campaign and to NBC's slotting the show up against the hit drama Lost. The Apprentice: Martha Stewart was not renewed for a second season.

In October 2005, Stewart also released a new book called The Martha Rules on starting and managing a new business, and a month later her company released Martha Stewart Baking Handbook. In October 2006, Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook, a reference book about looking after your house, was published by Clarkson Potter. She also is a regular contributor of cooking, gardening, and crafts segments on NBC's The Today Show. Stewart's daily talk show was nominated in six categories for the 33rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in 2006, including Best Host and Best Show. MSLO launched a line of houses that carry her name to be built by KB Home initially in Cary, North Carolina and various other locations nationwide. The first homes, which were inspired by Stewart's homes in New York and Mount Desert Island in Maine, were completed in early 2006. Ultimately 650 homes are planned with prices from low $200,000 to mid-$400,000s. A line of paper-based crafts for EK Success is also in development. In September 2007, she launched an upscale line of homewares for Macy's, which is the largest brand launch in Macy's history. Appearing in commercials for the line, Stewart has stated that she has designed more than 2,000 items exclusively for Macy's. The line includes bedding, bath, cookware and dinnerware.

In addition to television and merchandising, MSLO launched a 24-hour satellite radio network with Sirius in November 2005, on which Stewart currently hosts a weekly call-in show. Stewart has also encouraged the use of Misplaced Pages on her program during a segment on pomegranates in order for viewers to learn more about that fruit's symbolism in Jewish tradition. In addition, she has mentioned making a Martha Stewart online encyclopedia: Marthapedia.com.

Stewart also made a special appearance on the serio-comic series Ugly Betty in the November 16 2006 episode "Four Thanksgivings and a Funeral", in which she gave her friend Wilhelmina Slater (played by Vanessa Williams) tips on how to prepare a turkey. Justin Suarez (played by Mark Indelicato), is a fan of Stewart.

On September 14, 2007, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia announced that it inked a partnership with E & J Gallo Winery to produce a wine brand with label "Martha Stewart Vintage" (for sale in 6 cities, January, at $15). 15,000 cases to be sold include: 2006 Sonoma County Chardonnay, 2005 Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon and 2006 Sonoma County Merlot (for Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, N.C., Denver, Phoenix, and Portland, Oregon). Martha Stewart also signed contract with Costco Wholesale Corp. to offer frozen and fresh food (label - Kirkland Signature).

Personal life

Never remarried, Stewart is an avid animal lover. Her pets include champion show Chow Chow dogs, French Bulldogs, Himalayan cats, and Friesian horses (which are considered to be among the finest and, indeed, most expensive of equine pets). Martha Kostyra, Stewart's mother, died on November 16, 2007.

Martha Stewart Movies

There have been two biopics made for television about Martha. Martha, Inc.: The Story of Martha Stewart for NBC and a sequel for CBS entitled Martha: Behind Bars, starring Cybill Shepherd.

See also

• Martha
• Martha Stewart Living

References

1. http://www.wargs.com/other/stewart.html
2. "Martha Stewart Biography". about.com. About.com. Retrieved 30 June. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
3. Curran, John. "In her New Jersey hometown, Martha Stewart's downfall stings", The San Diego Union-Tribune, March 14, 2004. Accessed October 22, 2007. "A straight-A student, she belonged to almost every club there was at Nutley High School."
4. "U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission". www.sec.gov. www.sec.gov. Retrieved 4 June. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
5. "Martha, out and about" CNN
6. "Stewart sentenced to five months in prison" Reuters, published in The Sydney Morning Herald, July 17, 2004
7. Martha Stewart to sell signature wine
8. Martha Stewart Dating Former Microsoftie? InsideMicrosoft, 29 December 2006
9. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20161284,00.html

Sources

• Sellers, Patricia (November 14, 2005). "Remodeling Martha". Fortune, pp. 49–62.

External links

• Martha Stewart lambasts jail food
• Commentary of her jailing
• MarthaStewart.com
• Everyday Food Magazine
• Martha Stewart Weddings Magazine
• Body & Soul Magazine
• Blueprint Magazine
• Stewart joins PETA's anti-fur campaign
• Martha Stewart's political donations
• welovemartha.org "Fairness for Ms. Martha Stewart" website setup by Euro British Americas Coalition
• CourtTV: Martha Stewart insider trading trial
• Martha Stewart was badly treated! (Euro British Coalition videoclip)
• Video defence of Martha Stewart and Conrad Black treatment as "street justice"

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