Ivan's Journal - MARTHA STEWART LIVING

Few days had passed since the monthly meeting in my office discussing the next topic for our favorite magazine, Marketing Magazine. The topic for April 2008 was about Top Female Marketers. It’s always exciting to talk about women as we came up with a list of powerful women who made it to the top position of their career. I was just finishing few articles and updating our company’s website, www.marketing.co.id, when my boss suddenly called. He asked me to write an article about Martha Stewart.

I knew very little about Martha Stewart and had to find lots of references before I could begin writing about her. All I know, Martha was good at cooking and making recipes. But the more I explored her stories and experiences, the more I admire this great woman. I want to share my stories about her for you, here in my blog, if you didn’t have time to read the Marketing Magazine before.

“I’ve always felt that life should be an adventure. Everyday should be important.” That’s a great quote I found from this multi-talented woman who’s also a great cook.

Born with the name Martha Helen Kostyra on August 3, 1941, she began her adventure in the industrial area in New Jersey, United States. Being the first daughter of six children, Martha grew up in a modest-middle-class family background. Her mother worked as a school teacher and her father worked as a salesman.

Her father, Edward, was a figure who always pushed his children to have a great and clear purpose in life. Martha’s passion in homemaking appeared since she was little. Her father taught her about gardening while her mother taught her how to cook, bake, and sew.

Barnard College in New York became a place where she studied and gained a scholarship because of her great achievements on the previous school. Martha worked as a model for extra income and felt fame for the first time.

She continued her study focusing on Chemistry. After that she moved to art, history of Europe and architecture. This was the time when she met a guy named Andrew Stewart, a law student who later became her husband. They were married when Martha was still on her second year of college. Once she graduated from college, she returned to modeling and gained success by becoming a TV commercial star for Breck, Clairol, and Lifebuoy.

In the year of 1965, Martha’s life changed. A daughter named Alexis was born and she focused on becoming a housewife, taking care of her family for 2 years. In the year of 1967, Martha tried a career as a stock broker and become quite successful in it, until she finally left the profession 6 years later.

Martha bought a farmhouse named Turkey Hill in Westport, Connecticut. Her life walked toward a new successful path since then. She and her husband ambitiously restored the farmhouse. This activity pumped Martha’s passion in house renovation and decoration.

In the year of 1976, she built a catering business in her own basement with her old friend from college. The next step was opening a retail store nearby that sold food and other supplies. The promotion strategy involved putting ads on local newspapers and also by word of mouth promotion. The efforts paid off in less than 10 years, when her activities turned into a business with 1 million dollars value!

Martha began to enter the world of publishing business. She wrote articles for New York Times and became an editor in House Beautiful. She agreed to become a co-author for a book about catering with a fashion expert named Elizabeth Hawes, which brought her to a more successful life. The name of Martha Stewart quickly became well known in the field of homemaking through her routine performance on The Today Show. It didn’t take a long time for her to become famous and created her own “brand”. She managed to turn her spirits and passion into million dollars Business Empire.

“All the things I love are what my business is all about,” says Martha who gained a successful life through homemaking business. Many great opportunities were opened in front of her eyes. She ventured into the world of video tape, CD, television, and wrote a book about cooking, baking, entertaining, homemaking, and house decoration. Through her performance in Oprah Winfrey Show, Martha was able to make her face and her brand became famous and well known to the world.

In the year of 1987, Martha signed a 5 million dollar advertising and consultation contract with Kmart and became their speaker for their home department division. In 2000, she released a book called Weddings. Ironically, the book was launched on the same day her husband sent a divorce statement. Although her personal life was in trouble, Martha didn’t let it disturb her career path.

A year later after her divorce, she launched her own premiere edition magazine called Martha Stewart Living. The magazine quickly became famous and printed more than 1 million copies. The New York Magazine declared her as “The Definitive American Woman of Our Time” in 1995.

Two years later, Martha founded Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSLO), which later became the parent company of all her other businesses. In the year of 2000, MSLO managed to become a public company and entered the New York Stock Exchange. On the first day, the company scored a net value of more than 1.2 billion dollars. Now the company employed more than 650 employees and hit revenue of not less than 200 million dollars.

Unfortunately, Martha had to face a big problem in 2002. She was accused of becoming an “insider trading” and found guilty because of lying to the investigators. She was sentenced 5 months prison. She then stepped back from her position as a CEO of MSLO and the company suffered a lot because of her absence. But that was not the end of Martha Stewart.

After she was released from prison and back to the society, this “Queen of Domestic Style” managed to save her business from danger. She focused her whole energy on Martha Stewart Living, extended the contract with Kmart, worked together with Sears and started her debut on television.

She managed to reach a high rating on the television for most of her shows. After she launched her book called The Martha Rules, A Guide for Entrepreneurs on How to Start Up and Manage a Successful Business, Fortune Magazine declared her as one of the Most Powerful Women.

“Without passion, work is just a work, a chore,” says Martha. “Passion is the first and most essential ingredient for planning and beginning a business.” Martha knew her passion since she was little and felt alive when experimenting with her mom in the kitchen or when gardening with her dad at the backyard. She knew that if she wants to have a meaningful life, she will have to put her passion into her career and work.

Martha didn’t pursue money or wealth. All she wanted was to spend her time doing things that she loves most. “To become an entrepreneur, start with loving at what you do and become an expert in it.” Oh, she also has a great website and blog, www.marthastewart.com. I’m sure it would be useful for all of us. It’s truly an inspiration not only for women, but for men too. I am glad I can share it with all of you about a woman who knows so much about home and business.

Ivan the Freelancer