Thrive: 30 Inspirational Rags-to-Riches Stories

Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart was born Martha Kostyra in Jersey City, New Jersey. The second of six children, Martha grew up in a working-class community in Nutley, New Jersey. She started her modeling career at age thirteen, appearing in fashion shows as well as in television and print advertisements. A straight-A student, Martha achieved a partial scholarship to Barnard College, while modeling helped pay for expenses. After her sophomore year, she married Andrew Stewart, a law student.

Martha took a year off from Barnard after their wedding but returned to graduate with a double major in history and architectural history. After graduation, she continued her modeling career until her daughter Alexis was born in 1965. She started a second career as a stockbroker in 1967 for the boutique brokerage firm Monness, Williams, and Sodel. When a recession hit Wall Street in 1973, Martha left the brokerage firm. She and Andrew moved to Westport, Connecticut, where they undertook the complete renovation of an 1805 farmhouse on Turkey Hill Road.

In 1976, Martha started a catering business, which she ran from the basement of her house. She also managed a gourmet food store in Westport called the Market Basket. Within ten years, Martha's basement business had grown into a $1 million enterprise, serving a number of corporate and celebrity clients. Catering publishers' parties in New York City led to a book deal. Martha Stewart's Entertaining was published in 1982 and became the best-selling cookbook since Julia Child's The Art of French Cooking, which was published twenty years prior. Martha continued to publish more books.

In addition to her books, Martha served as an editor and columnist for the magazine House Beautiful, as well as a contributing editor for Family Circle. While her career prospered, her personal life deteriorated. In 1989, Martha and Andrew Stewart divorced. In 1990, Martha started her own magazine, Martha Stewart Living, serving as editor-in-chief. The magazine became an immediate success. Appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show and Larry King Live led to a regular weekly appearance on CBS's Early Show, as well as a series of holiday specials on the network. In 1993, she debuted a weekly half-hour television program, Martha Stewart Living, which eventually expanded to a daily hour-long broadcast with half-hour episodes on weekends.

Martha's television success transformed her into a household name. She launched a second magazine, Martha Stewart Weddings, in 1993. She also signed an advertising and consulting contract with retailer Kmart for a reported $5 million. In 1997, Martha purchased all of the publishing, broadcasting, merchandising and licensing ventures bearing her name and consolidated them into a new company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on October 19, 1999.