MARTHA STEWART

Martha Stewart was born Martha Kostyra, on August 3, 1941, in New Jersey. The second of six children, Stewart grew up in Nutley, New Jersey. She worked as a model from the age of 13, appearing in fashion shows as well as television and print advertisements. Stewart attended Barnard College in Manhattan, where she earned a degree in European and architectural history in 1962. While at Barnard, she met Andy Stewart, a Yale law student, and the two married in 1961 and had a daughter, Alexis. Stewart went to work as a stockbroker for the boutique firm of Monness, Williams, and Sidel. She worked on Wall Street until 1972, when the family moved to Westport, Connecticut. Stewart decided to focus her energy on gourmet cooking, starting a catering business in the late 1970s, and soon became known for her gourmet menus and unique, creative presentation. Within a decade, Martha Stewart, Inc., had grown into a $1 million business serving a number of corporate and celebrity clients. Stewart expanded into the world of publishing with her first book, Entertaining, which became a bestseller and was followed in quick succession by such publications as Martha Stewart's Quick Cook Menus, Martha Stewart's Hors d'Oeuvres, Martha Stewart's Christmas and Martha Stewart's Wedding Planner. Her marriage to Andy ended in divorce in 1990. In 1991, Martha Stewart, Inc., became Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc., with the release of her magazine, Martha Stewart Living. Stewart's lifestyle empire soon grew to include two magazines, a checkout-size recipe publication, a popular cable television show, a syndicated newspaper column, a series of how-to books, a radio show, an Internet site and $763 million in annual retail sales. On October 19, 1999 Stewart returned to Wall Street to see her company throu4gh its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. Stewart herself controls 96 percent of the voting shares in her company and is worth $1.2 billion.  In 2002, Stewart made financial headlines for rumors of insider trading. In 2004  a jury found her guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and two counts of making false statements. Stewart was sentenced to five months in prison and fined $30,000. Stewart was released from prison on March 4, 2005. Her self-titled syndicated daytime program ran from 2005 to 2012. Stewart continues to be a television presence.

"I made homemaking an art form."