The Ultimate Homemaker’s First Home: Martha Stewart’s Early Days
The Ultimate Homemaker’s First Home: Martha Stewart’s Early Days
Stewart’s adventures began on August 3, 1941 when she was born into the industrial heartland of Jersey City, New Jersey as Martha Helen Kostyra. The first daughter of six children to her schoolteacher mother and pharmaceutical salesman father, Stewart grew up in a very tight knit middle class family of Polish background. When Stewart was three, the family moved to Nutley, New Jersey. Her father, Edward, was an extremely demanding man who always encouraged his children to have ambitious goals. Stewart’s passion for homemaking seemed to stem from this early period, when her father taught her the techniques of gardening and her mother taught her cooking, baking and sewing.
Stewart had always worked hard to succeed in school and, with her straight A average earned a scholarship to Barnard College in New York City. Working as a model to help pay expenses, Stewart got her first taste of fame. She continued in her studies, focusing first on chemistry but later switched to art, European history and architectural history. It was here where she would meet her future husband, law student Andrew Stewart, whom she would marry after her sophomore year. After graduating from college, Stewart returned to modeling and continued to achieve modest success, doing television commercials for such companies as Breck, Clairol, and Lifebuoy.
In 1965, Stewart’s life began to take a turn. Her daughter, Alexis, was born and Stewart took two years to focus on being a mother. In 1967, Stewart flirted with a career as a stockbroker and was fairly successful until she left the profession six years later to focus on her family. It was their purchase of an 1805 farmhouse called Turkey Hill in Westport, Connecticut that would set Stewart’s life on a new path to success.
The couple ambitiously set out to restore the farmhouse themselves, which began to rekindle Stewart’s passion for home renovations and decorating. In 1976, Stewart created a catering business in her basement with a friend from college, who eventually left due to Stewart’s perfectionist nature. She also opened a retail store nearby to sell her foods as well as other entertaining supplies. By placing advertisements in local newspapers and using word of mouth, Stewart’s efforts significantly paid off. In just ten years, her business would become a $1 million enterprise.
Stewart slowly began to venture into the world of publishing, writing articles for the New York Times and becoming editor of House Beautiful. When she agreed to co-author Entertaining, a book on catering with fashion guru Elizabeth Hawes, Stewart immediately became a success. Regular appearances on The Today Show were turning Martha Stewart into a household name. It would not be long before she would shoot to fame and become the multi-million dollar one-woman industry that the world knows today, who managed to turn her passion for homemaking into not only a profitable business but also an empire.
The Ultimate Homemakers First Home Martha Stewarts Early Days
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“I’ve always felt that life should be an adventure,” says home-style guru and multi-millionaire Martha Stewart. “Every day should be important.”
Stewart’s adventures began on August 3, 1941 when she was born into the industrial heartland of Jersey City, New Jersey as Martha Helen Kostyra. The first daughter of six children to her schoolteacher mother and pharmaceutical salesman father, Stewart grew up in a very tight knit middle class family of Polish background. When Stewart was three, the family moved to Nutley, New Jersey. Her father, Edward, was an extremely demanding man who always encouraged his children to have ambitious goals. Stewart’s passion for homemaking seemed to stem from this early period, when her father taught her the techniques of gardening and her mother taught her cooking, baking and sewing.
Stewart had always worked hard to succeed in school and, with her straight A average earned a scholarship to Barnard College in New York City. Working as a model to help pay expenses, Stewart got her first taste of fame. She continued in her studies, focusing first on chemistry but later switched to art, European history and architectural history. It was here where she would meet her future husband, law student Andrew Stewart, whom she would marry after her sophomore year. After graduating from college, Stewart returned to modeling and continued to achieve modest success, doing television commercials for such companies as Breck, Clairol, and Lifebuoy.
In 1965, Stewart’s life began to take a turn. Her daughter, Alexis, was born and Stewart took two years to focus on being a mother. In 1967, Stewart flirted with a career as a stockbroker and was fairly successful until she left the profession six years later to focus on her family. It was their purchase of an 1805 farmhouse called Turkey Hill in Westport, Connecticut that would set Stewart’s life on a new path to success.
The couple ambitiously set out to restore the farmhouse themselves, which began to rekindle Stewart’s passion for home renovations and decorating. In 1976, Stewart created a catering business in her basement with a friend from college, who eventually left due to Stewart’s perfectionist nature. She also opened a retail store nearby to sell her foods as well as other entertaining supplies. By placing advertisements in local newspapers and using word of mouth, Stewart’s efforts significantly paid off. In just ten years, her business would become a $1 million enterprise.
Stewart slowly began to venture into the world of publishing, writing articles for the New York Times and becoming editor of House Beautiful. When she agreed to co-author Entertaining, a book on catering with fashion guru Elizabeth Hawes, Stewart immediately became a success. Regular appearances on The Today Show were turning Martha Stewart into a household name. It would not be long before she would shoot to fame and become the multi-million dollar one-woman industry that the world knows today, who managed to turn her passion for homemaking into not only a profitable business but also an empire.
The Ultimate Homemakers First Home Martha Stewarts Early Days
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Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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