When thinking about the word “inspirational,” there are few better examples than East Hampton lifestyle maven Martha Stewart.
Born to a less-than-wealthy Polish family living in New Jersey in 1941, Stewart began modelling in high school and continued through college, paying a portion of her Barnard College tuition with money from her work as a Chanel fashion model. From there, she found success in stocks, catering, cookbook writing, magazine publishing, television and more. In 1997, she consolidated the various properties associated with the growing Martha Stewart brand under the new company Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.
Even after her highly publicized stock trading conviction and incarceration, Stewart was able to mount an impressive comeback tour, reclaiming her popularity and success. Since then, she’s created a great many projects in print and on screens, most recently Martha Knows Best, which debuted on HGTV on July 31, 2020.
This Monday, we’re looking for inspiration in the mother of homemaking’s wise words and insightful thoughts.
“I think baking cookies is equal to Queen Victoria running an empire. There’s no difference in how seriously you take the job, how seriously you approach your whole life.”
“Whether you’re a programmer or a seamstress, it’s all about new techniques, simplifying old techniques and consolidating steps. Making things go faster, but not worse.”
“Doing projects really gives people self-confidence. Nothing is better than taking the pie out of the oven. What it does for you personally, and for your family’s idea of you, is something you can’t buy.”
“Without an open-minded mind, you can never be a great success.”
“In New York, I get a tremendous amount of ideas by looking at the paintings and the sculptures, adapting artistic endeavors to crafts. There is a lot of inspiration around us that we can see every day and turn into projects.”
“I have proven that being a perfectionist can be profitable and admirable when creating content across the board—in television, books, newspapers, radio, videos.”
“There are two kinds of people… There are the dreamers who go and buy, and there are the doers who go and make. And I’ve always recognized that. So the dreamers are what support our company because they will buy the product that they could make if they wanted to, had time to or were so inclined to.”
“My new motto is: When you’re through changing, you’re through.”
“You should feel good about making your home nicer for your family and your friends. You should feel great about cooking a good dinner and making a dress for a granddaughter, creating a beautiful birthday party. It’s all part of life.”
“The ultimate goal is to be an interesting, useful, wholesome person. If you’re successful on top of that, then you’re way ahead of everybody.”
