Gone are the days when a woman was obliged not only to take care of all the household chores, look after the children and, at the same time, work somewhere else without fail. Today, many ladies consciously choose the "career of the wife", leaving the husband to provide for the family, while they themselves devote themselves to creating home comfort and raising children. And although in our country some still traditionally look askance at housewives, calling them kluchs, in more developed countries such women are treated with great respect.
In addition, some of the housewives often even open their own business selling homemade cakes, handmade clothes and jewelry, and so on. However, Martha Stewart, a housewife from the United States, went the furthest. This amazing woman was able to create an entire business empire thanks to her passion for home economics.
Martha Stewart's early years
Martha Stewart's parents were immigrants from Poland. The family hadsix children, and the parents struggled to make ends meet. Therefore, since childhood, Martha has been looking for ways to earn extra money. Her mother cooked and sewed beautifully and taught her talented baby to do the same. So, almost from childhood, Marta Kostyra (maiden name) was selling homemade cakes. Over time, the girl also mastered gardening.
Although making and selling pies was time consuming, Martha Stewart also did well in school. This allowed the girl to continue her education after her graduation at the private Bernard College for Girls.
Martha Stewart: modeling career
Besides golden hands and mind, Martha also had a good appearance. Thanks to this, from the age of thirteen, she began acting in photo shoots for various periodicals and television programs. Continuing her education in college, Martha Stewart (the girl's photo adorned many magazines, and in 1960 Glamor made the pretty Martha one of the ten most elegantly dressed students in the United States) continued to work as a fashion model.
In 1961, Yale law student Andy Stewart proposed to Martha, and soon she became his wife. Despite a successful marriage, until graduation and the birth of her daughter, Alexis Martha Stewart continued her modeling career.
Marriage and brokerage career
After giving birth to Alexis, Mrs. Stewart devoted herself to housekeeping. For the next two years, she lived happily in the family circle. It seemed that the spouses Andy and Martha Stewart(photo below) will continue to live like this. But Andy's father's financial problems forced his wife to look for new ways to earn money.
In 1967, Andy's father helps Martha get a job as a stockbroker. Mrs. Stuart is quite quickly accustomed to this area. Martha Stewart will soon be known to many as a good broker who earns decent money. Unfortunately, success on the stock exchange did not accompany her for long. A few years later, due to the huge decline in Wall Street stock prices, she loses the money of many of her clients and her own savings. This failure forced the Stewart family to move to live in the suburbs, and turned Martha Stewart herself into a housewife again.
Housewife and businesswoman
Having settled in a new place, Marta quickly settled in and became a frequent visitor to local fairs. On them, as in childhood, she began to sell her homemade cakes. Later, the enterprising woman realized she needed to expand and set up a small business to cook homemade party meals.
Martha Stewart's business was so successful that she opened her own store. In addition, this woman began to decorate houses and succeeded quite well. After a while, her recipes and household tips began to be published in the most famous magazines and newspapers. Further, Mrs. Stewart publishes her own book of housekeeping tips, How to Host. She brings Marta even morepopularity, and she continues to write and publish new books. In addition, she is invited to participate in various TV shows, in particular in the program of the cult presenter Oprah.
Over time, Martha Stewart enters into a contract with one of the Kmart supermarket chains and advertises their products. After making her name synonymous with reliable, quality products and home economics advice, she launches her own magazine, Life According to Martha Stewart, and later a similar TV show.
In the same period, Martha's husband divorces her. Although this reflects negatively on Stewart's reputation, she continues her work. A few years later, she expands her business and begins publishing another magazine, Martha Stewart Weddings.
In 1997, this businesswoman manages to found her own company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, and by the beginning of the 2000s, Martha's fortune is estimated at a billion dollars.
Imprisonment and continued career
Despite the problems with her personal life, Martha Stewart met the new millennium as a successful and we althy woman. But when everything got better and it began to seem that life was a success, another misfortune occurred.
In 2001, a billionaire housewife was accused of doing business illegally and using insider information. The fact is that Martha Stewart owned a large number of shares in ImClone Systems. Learning of the company's troubles before it was announced on the news, Martha and several other shareholders rushed to get rid of them beforehow news of the scandal would lower their market value. An investigation was launched, Marta was found guilty and was forced to serve five months in prison.
During her imprisonment, the stock of her company fell in price, and her name was disgraced, and it was her reputation that was the main asset of her enterprise.
Like her famous namesake, Queen of Scots, Mary Stuart (a biography with a photo of this person is found in almost every textbook of world history), having emerged from captivity, she found her empire in a deplorable state. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia's stock plummeted, her TV shows were canceled, and her huge following turned away from her. Despite this, Stewart does not give up and actively continues to fight for his business.
Remarkable is the fact that although most have written off this wonderful woman, she still manages to make herself known. For example, the sitcom "Two Broke Girls" invited Martha to star in one of the episodes. In addition, the tabloids attribute numerous affairs with stars to her.
The fate of this amazing woman is the embodiment of the fairy tale about Cinderella: from a simple girl from an immigrant family to the owner of a business empire. Martha Stewart had her ups and downs, but she always tried to make the most delicious lemonade even from the bitterest lemon that fate slipped her. And even today, when her image of an exemplary law-abiding housewife is debunked, she does not cease to demonstrate the firmness of spirit and the ability to overcome all adversity.
