Entrepreneur, media mogul, stockbroker, lifestyle maven, pop-culture icon, convicted felon. This indomitable businesswoman wears many hats, not all of which fit comfortably. Stewart grew up cooking, sewing, gardening and home-keeping, activities she would soon parlay into an empire. During college she worked as a model but became a stockbroker after graduating. In the early '70s, she and her family moved from New York City to the suburbs and she launched a successful catering business that spawned her first book,
Entertaining, in 1982. From 1991 to 2004 she produced and hosted her own eponymous how-to show as she continued to write books, start magazines, launch lines at Kmart and appear as herself in countless TV shows and movies. In 2004, Stewart's luster was tarnished when she was convicted of four counts of obstructing justice related to insider trading and spent several months in prison. Yet the style maven remained undaunted and launched two TV shows upon her 2005 release:
Martha and
The Apprentice: Martha Stewart.
Martha Stewart Fast Facts:- Learned gardening from her father and cooking from her mother at an early age.
- Began career as a model in the late '50s and early '60s, appearing in ads for Tareyton cigarettes and Lifebuoy soap; also became a Breck girl.
- Named one of Glamour magazine's Best Dressed College Girls of 1961.
- Became one of the first female stockbrokers on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in the late '60s.
- Was found guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and two counts of making false statements in a case related to insider trading in February 2004.
- Served five months in prison at a minimum-security jail in West Virginia in 2004 (inmate number: 55170-054). Finished the sentence by serving five months of house arrest at her New York home.
- Named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in 2005.
- Martha Stewart Relationships:
- Alexis Gilbert Stewart - Daughter
- Andy Stewart - Ex-husband
- Charles Simonyi - Ex-significant Other
- Edward Kostyra - Father
- Eric Scott - Brother
- Frank Kostyra - Brother
- George Christiansen - Brother
- Kathy Kostyra Evans - Sister
- Laura Kostyra Plimpton - Sister
- Martha Kostyra - Mother
- College:
- Barnard College, New York, NY (BA in European and Architectural History, 1963)
