In the documentary produced by Netflix, everything about this entrepreneurial woman who revolutionized the lifestyle market before it became the multi-million dollar business it is today. Her story, controversies and curiosities.
Although it has always been acontroversial figureWhether it was the aspirational image of the perfect housewife that enchanted — and exhausted — millions of women for decades, or the criticism she received for promoting an unattainable and elitist lifestyle, or the scandal over alleged financial fraud that led to her spending five months in jail, the appeal of this figure remains throughout the years. And although Stewart herself has come out to criticize some aspects of her documentary, the almost two-hour program serves almost as a business manual for any beginner.
Counterculture in life and business
Both personally and professionally, Stewart always went against the grain.A brief look at her intimate life shows a woman raised in an excessively disciplined environment by a perfectionist and alcoholic father («a dissatisfied and unhappy human being»), who, although not physically abusive to his children, did leave psychological scars. Stewart, who married very young as was the custom in the 1950s, was not happy either as a wife, as she had a marriage full of infidelities, or a fulfilled mother («How could I be a good mother if I had not been educated for it?»).
However, everything must be said about this woman,Considered a trendsetter long before social media existed-and the tradwife movement that is now invading TikTok made domesticity fashionable again. Stewart, in addition to being intelligent (she enrolled at Barnard) and persevering , was curious and self-taught . Thus she went from being a teenage advertising model (a job that allowed her to support her family while growing up) to being astockbroker at a time when there were no women on Wall Street.Apparently, although he was doing very well — he was earning a quarter of a million dollars a year — he decided to leave to retire and build the perfect home outside New York and raise his daughter.
«I was the only woman in the firm. I had to stand firm because of the things that happened in the back seats of taxis [she says, stretching out her arm in a gesture of pushing someone away], which I won’t mention. But they were very intelligent people and I learned a lot there,» she recalls, referring to her disruptive presence in this alpha male environment, from which she would undoubtedly take away the foundations for the future businesses she would carry out.
Making a lifestyle a brand
At the time of buying a farm, Turkey Hill — which they rebuilt from scratch — on the outskirts of the Big Apple, Stewartbegan to devote herself to all kinds of household tasks with total devotion and creativity,whether it was masonry, painting, carpentry, but above all cooking, decoration and setting, and also gardening and growing her own vegetable garden, a passion inherited from her father. Thus she went from serving as cook and hostess of business dinners for clients of her husband Andrew Stewart (who then ran one of the most important book publishers, Abrams Books) toFounding his own catering company in 1973with which she would become the ultimate tastemaker. It only took a couple of events for the most important brands in the world of business, fashion and art, from museums to houses like Sotheby’s, to hire her for their events and entertainment.
In terms of gastronomy, it is worth pointing out something that is usually minimized: its contribution is unquestionable.bringing complexity and sophistication to American tables,At a time when most of the food we bought and consumed was canned and instant. Just look at the food advertisements of the 1960s, when household appliances and instant food were «getting» women out of the kitchen — giving them more time to do other things like school and work — Stewart proposed that the simple act of preparing food without resorting to canned or packaged products was a revolution. Perhaps not the kind that feminists would have touted, but one on the scale of that led by Julia Child herself when she brought French cooking to American homes.
Like Child, whom she came to know, Stewart was dazzled by European culinary culture, art and architecture during her travels when she was younger, and inspired by this she introduced aesthetics and staging to her tables — decades ahead of today’s food styling — that distinguished her from the rest of the media chefs who were beginning to appear at the time. Stewart also advocated growing one’s own food — she even had chickens at home — in what could be thought of as the prehistory of the farm-to-table movement and of natural or agrochemical-free foods. In this way,, focusing on homemade, artisanal food and an enviable green thumb for gardens and floral arrangements, changed the way of thinking and seeing food and tables throughout the United States.
Editorial revolution: the first «everyday life» magazine
Not only did she establish herself as what is known today as a food influencer and embodied perhaps before anyone else the «be your own brand» that is repeated as a formula for everything, but she also had great success in other areas in which she developed, such as the publishing industry, TV and finally big finance.
Her way of marketing, her great taste and the power of the visual raised the bar for the gastro books that were being made at that time. In this sense, although it was difficult, since at the beginning she worked with her husband who came from the publishing world, she always had a clear idea of what she wanted to see and established the rules for the publication of her first books, for example making them have large, full-color photos. Her body of work speaks for itself witha dozen best-selling books published and one of the first magazines, Martha Stewart Living, to venture into a new, unknown categorythus, creating and occupying a niche that did not exist:the category «Living»which brought together holidays, entertainment, food, decorating, kids and babies, crafts and gardening all together («We wanted to be the magazine for the modern woman»).
As for his magazine , after going through Conde Nasté and Murdoch without being able to convince them that these were topics worth covering and would be «profitable», he ended up closing a deal with TIME to produce it. It was one of the most successful magazines in the midst of the recession, which was initially published quarterly andIt is currently published monthly.It also evolved into the Martha Stewart Living show, which debuted with a weekly half-hour broadcast in 1993 and grew to five daily one-hour broadcasts until 2004.
A new way of doing business
By the early 1990s, Stewart had created his own empire, literally.Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia,a conglomerate that included her books, magazine, merchandise and network deals, and TV show. In 1999, when she had her own IPO with Omni, she broke another milestone: she became the first female billionaire in the United States. At the same time, the fact that it was a conglomerate built around a woman was something that had never been done before. The glory would not last long.
A scandal in which she was accused of insider trading in 2003 led to her beingaccused of obstruction of justice and false testimonyStewart was arrested for giving false testimony following an interview she gave to the FBI. In a context in which the great fortunes of the United States were under scrutiny, and unable to effectively convict her of improper use of information (about the sale of her own shares in a biopharmaceutical company in which she had invested), prosecutor James Comey caught her for giving false testimony. Many considered this an exaggeration or an instructive failure that, in the hands of the ambitious Comey, made Stewartwas sentenced to five months in prison.
But that was not all. After the conviction,The value of his company’s shares plummeted by more than 50% and he was unable to continue serving as CEO.. Because Stewart’s approach to business was so unique for the time, making her the first woman to «turn her lifestyle into a business,» this was a problem for shareholders, who were reluctant from the start not only to let Stewart have so much power, but also to have everything revolve around her image. With the scandal, her image suffered, and so did her company. After that, she went to jail, served her time, returned to TV and her life, but the empire she had built was never the same again.
A resurgence and a legacy
There is no doubt about his contribution in terms of breaking the glass ceiling — or rather shattering it — going from running a catering service to leading a multi-million dollar corporation with annual revenues of US$200 million.
Her intelligence, creativity and intuition generated a new way of doing business: doingalliances with supermarkets such as Kmartto reach everyone, first with his books and then with his products — his idea was always to speak to ordinary people -,democratising content and educating through traditional media (magazines and TV at the time, today social media),reinventing itself at every opportunity (expanding to other segments and sales channels).
The criticism she received for being cold, perfectionist and ambitious was the result of the double standard to which powerful women who dare to take the plunge and who do not exhibit feminine qualities are still subjected today. Being a so-called «white shark» was not well regarded for women, but it was for men.
At 82, with her motivation and ability to do things intact, Stewart became culturally relevant again a few years ago when she was invited by Justin Bieber to the famous Comedy Central celebrity roast, where she surprised everyone with her sardonic humor and her television presence. Today she is breaking it in herNew cooking show with Snoop Dogg-hip hop star who she met in 2012 on the same show and became friends with- and isThe Queen Mother on social medialike Tik Tok (1.8 million followers) or Instagram (4.8 million), where he continues to «educate» and provide advice under the motto «Elevating the everyday.»
If there’s one thing Stewart has proven, it’s that it’s never too late to learn or indulge in life: last year, at 81, she was part of Sports Illustrated’s summer edition, featuring an octogenarian on the cover for the first time.
