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Martha Stewart got her catering company off the ground by cooking everything her
Featured Event 1941 Birth

August 3

Martha Stewart got her catering company off the ground by cooking everything herself, then hired staff as demand grew in the wealthy Connecticut suburbs where she lived. She wrote her first book, Entertaining, in 1982, and it sold well enough to lead to a magazine. Martha Stewart Living launched in 1990 and became the foundation of a media empire that expanded into television, radio, housewares, and retail partnerships with Kmart and later Macy's. By 2002, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia was a publicly traded company worth over a billion dollars, and Stewart herself was the first female self-made billionaire in American history. Then came the insider trading accusation. She sold 3,928 shares of ImClone stock on December 27, 2001, one day before the FDA announced it was rejecting the company's cancer drug application. The stock dropped sixteen percent the next day. She was not charged with insider trading itself but with conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and lying to federal investigators about the reason for the sale. She was convicted in March 2004 and served five months at a federal prison camp in Alderson, West Virginia, which the press nicknamed "Camp Cupcake." She came out, went back to work, rebuilt her television presence, and relaunched her brand partnerships. Her company's stock price, which had cratered during the trial, eventually recovered. At eighty-one, she became the oldest person on the cover of Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue. Her career demonstrated that American celebrity culture forgives almost anything if you keep producing.

August 3, 1941

85 years ago

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