When hearing the name Martha Stewart, one can’t help but think of the ideal 90s homemaker. However, that’s not all she is; she’s also a businesswoman, entrepreneur, mother, and the first self-made female billionaire.
Her name is used as an adjective to describe perfection, which is what she has stride for her entire life, and those incredibly high expectations are what fueled her to become the successful business mogul she is today.
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However, nothing was handed to her that easily; she had to start from scratch and build her way to the top alone.Â
Women have historically been viewed as more motherly and softer counterparts than men, but there’s no rule saying women can’t be both motherly and successful businesswomen.Â
Stewart single-handedly flipped the term “tradwife” or traditional housewife completely upside down by defying the biggest misconceptions and creating a multi-billion dollar business.
Martha Stewart at Netflix’s “Martha” New York Premiere at The Paris Theater. Stewart built an empire of businesses that made her the first female billionaire after her self-named company went public.
Martha Stewart’s early life: The making of her lucrative brand
Stewart wasn’t born into a wealthy family. She started working as a babysitter at a very young age and then began modeling at the age of 13 to make ends meet. After graduating from Barnard College of Columbia University, she became a stockbroker on New York’s Wall Street, which she was incredibly good at, according to her former boss.
Related: Martha Stewart’s net worth: How the talented homemaker got so rich
She then quit her finance job and moved to Connecticut with her family. Soon after, Stewart founded a small at-home catering business in the 1960s due to her love for hosting and cooking.
In 1980, she catered an event for a book release party, which is when she met the head of a popular publishing company. This led to the release of her first cooking book, Entertaining, in 1982. Entertaining sold thousands of copies and encouraged her to publish more books, making her a household name in the world of homemaking.
In the 1990s, Stewart signed a deal with Time Publishing Ventures to create her own magazine, Martha Stewart Living. This magazine was the first to focus on the art of homemaking by featuring cooking recipes, craft ideas, home projects, and more.
Although the label ‘homemaker’ can be seen as traditional or anti-feminist, women felt empowered by Stewart’s success. Because of her strong, loyal fanbase, the magazine quickly racked up millions of subscribers. It ran for 32 years until it stopped publishing in 2022.
In 1993, Stewart got her own show to accompany her successful magazine, which aired until 2004.
Martha Stewart at American Made.
Because Stewart has always been an independent woman, she wanted to manage her brand however she pleased. So, in 1996, she formed her own company called Matha Stewart Omnimedia, and a few months later, she acquired the rights to her entire brand.Â
Only three years after establishing her company, it became listed on the New York Stock Exchange, which allowed her loyal fans to get a minority stake in Stewart’s empire.
In 1999, the stock landed on the market for $18 per share and skyrocketed to become a multibillion-dollar company, making Stewart the first self-made female billionaire.
A big mistake landed Martha Stewart in prison
Stewart was at the peak of her career doing what she loved most while making billions. However, it all crumbled when Stewart was accused of insider trading after selling her shares in ImClone Systems in 2001.Â
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Allegedly, Stewart’s broker, Peter Bacanovic, alerted her that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had rejected the company’s cancer drug Erbitux a day before the announcement went public, which prevented Stewart from losing $45,000 from her shares.Â
Although she was never charged with insider trading because there was no solid evidence to prove it, Stewart was convicted of obstruction of justice, lying to federal investigators, and conspiracy in 2004, for which she served five months in federal prison, two years of supervised release, and paid a $30,000 fine.
In 2006, she paid a settlement of $195,000 to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Martha Stewart was convicted of obstruction of justice in 2004.
Because Stewart was the sole image of her company, and she had now been tarnished, she was forced to sell her once $2 billion company to Sequential Brands Group in 2015 for the incredibly discounted price of $350 million.
In 2019, Marquee Brands acquired the company for the astonishingly low price of $175 million.
Martha Stewart rebuilds her empire once again
Although Stewart was once a billionaire, the scandal and loss of her company reduced her net worth to around $400 million as of early 2024.
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However, the savvy businesswoman has rebuilt her empire and maintained her relevancy in the public eye by relaunching a personal rebrand in the face of adversity.
Stewart’s loyal fans never left her side. As soon as she was released from prison in 2005, Stewart got her own reality TV series, The Apprentice: Martha Stewart, and launched The Martha Stewart Show, which ran for five seasons.Â
Since then, she has starred in eleven shows, including a two-season show with her friend Snoop Dogg in 2016 called Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party.
She also published multiple cookbooks, which have sold thousands of copies and is now on her 100th book, which just hit the shelves this year.
Most recently, Netflix released a documentary about Stewart’s life called Martha, which is among the top 10 movies on Netflix’s charts in the U.S.
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