Martha, who is the first female self-made billionaire, has tried herself in different careers before becoming a well-known TV personality, and she was very successful in each of them.
As a teenager, she signed with Ford Models and was featured in shows, magazines, and commercials. According to her, she was “the all American girl.”
Later, she attended Barnard College and pursued a career as a stockbroker at an all-male firm.
“I lasted in that business for about eight years, working in a firm of all men. Only one woman owned a seat on the New York Stock Exchange at that time. I’m not intimidated by men; I never was,” Martha Stewart told People. “But men actually welcomed me to their offices. We wore hot pants to work. I still have my pale, peachy-pink ones and my chocolate-brown ones. I wore them with either high heels, bare legs, or tights. Elegant but also crazy. Like, how can you go to work in short-shorts? But I didn’t think twice about it. I was totally respected.”
Eventually, after years of working as a stockbroker, Martha felt she should spend more time with her family; her now ex-husband Andrew Steward and her only child, daughter Alexis.
While Alexis attended school in Westport, Connecticut, Martha came up with the idea of starting an at-home catering business. A decade later, she launched her company Martha Stewart Inc. which turned into a million dollar business.
In 1990, she and her husband divorced, and she had a hard time accepting the fact she and Andrew were no longer together.
“Getting divorced was a terrible thing for me because we were the first to divorce in my family,” she told the Daily Mail. “And that we haven’t spoken since the divorce is even more painful.”
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