Martha Stewart Biography

Martha Helen Kostyra was born on August 3, 1941 in Nutley , New Jersey . She grew up in a large middle class family of Polish-American heritage. Her parents were hard workers and instilled this ethic in their daughter as well. Martha developed the ability to do chores easily and started to develop her creativity.

Through high school she made straight As and received a partial scholarship to Barnard College in New York City . To help pay for the rest of her school she modeled and eventually got her degree in History and Architectural History. Around the same time she married Andy Stewart and continued to use modeling as a career until her daughter Alexis was born in 1965.

Not long afterwards the family moved to Westport , Connecticut and purchased a 19 th century farmhouse. In her typical fashion, Martha began restoring the house and it was apparent how passionate she was about restoring and decorating.

From there she decided to turn her basement into a catering business. Her first job was catering a wedding, which was very successful. Business blossomed from there as word spread fast about Martha. Not soon after, she received a book deal to write a book on catering.

Martha soon became the spokeswoman for K-Mart’s home department. A few years later Martha Stewart would have her own magazine and talk show, “Martha Stewart Living.” In 1995, New York Magazine named Martha Stewart, “the definitive American woman of our time.”

In the last couple of years Martha has been through a lot. In 2002, she was investigated for alleged insider trading. On March 5, 2004 she was found guilty of securities fraud, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy and spent some time in jail. However, Martha is now out of jail and back to conquering the world.