5 Shocking Careers And Untold Facts About Young Martha Stewart Before She Became A Lifestyle Mogul

In December 2025, the name Martha Stewart is synonymous with a sprawling lifestyle empire, but the untold story of her youth is a fascinating, high-octane journey that few people truly know. Before the cookbooks, the television shows, and the iconic *Martha Stewart Living* magazine, the woman born Martha Kostyra was a high-earning fashion model and a cutthroat Wall Street stockbroker, a dual life that laid the foundation for her legendary business acumen. This deep dive into the archives reveals the ambitious, driven, and surprisingly glamorous life of the young Martha Stewart, proving that her path to becoming a mogul was anything but conventional.

Martha Stewart: A Comprehensive Early Profile

The future lifestyle icon was born into a large, close-knit family, where a demanding, self-sufficient work ethic was instilled from a young age. Her early life in New Jersey, far from the rustic charm of her later Connecticut home, was a crucible for the meticulous perfectionist the world would come to know.

• Full Name: Martha Helen Kostyra (later Stewart)
• Date of Birth: August 3, 1941
• Place of Birth: Jersey City, New Jersey
• Parents: Edward Kostyra (Pharmaceuticals Salesman) and Martha Ruszkowski Kostyra (School Teacher, affectionately known as "Big Martha")
• Siblings: Second of six children (George Christiansen, Kathryn Evans, Laura Plimpton, Eric Scott, and Frank Koystra)
• Hometown: Raised in Nutley, New Jersey
• Education: Barnard College, New York City (B.A. in History and Architectural History)
• First Husband: Andrew Stewart (married 1961, divorced 1990)
• Child: Alexis Stewart (born 1965)

The Unexpected Glamour: A High-Earning Modeling Career

Long before she was teaching America how to fold a napkin, Martha Stewart was a highly successful and savvy model, using her striking looks and business sense to fund her college education. Her modeling career was not a hobby; it was a serious, lucrative profession.

From Unilever Commercials to High Fashion Editorials

Martha’s foray into the professional world began early. At just 15 years old, she booked her first major gig: a television commercial for Unilever, a massive consumer goods company. This early success immediately positioned her as a sought-after talent in New York City's competitive modeling scene.

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While attending Barnard College—a prestigious women's liberal arts college in New York City—Martha continued to model to supplement her partial scholarship. She was earning an impressive $15 an hour, a substantial sum in the early 1960s, which allowed her to pay for her tuition and expenses.

Her college years saw her appearing in fashion editorials and even walking in fashion shows, often sporting hand-made vintage dresses that showcased her early, innate sense of style. She worked for major fashion houses, including a stint with Chanel, and was featured in advertisements for brands like Breck hair products. This period solidified her comfort in front of the camera and her ability to present a flawless, aspirational image—skills that would become the bedrock of her later media empire.

The Wall Street Power Broker: Institutional Stockbroker

Perhaps the most surprising chapter in Martha Stewart's young life is her intense, seven-year career as a Wall Street institutional stockbroker. After graduating from Barnard College with a degree in history and architectural history, she pivoted from the world of fashion to the frenetic, male-dominated world of finance.

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A Shift from Fashion to Finance (1965–1972)

In 1967, Martha began working as a stockbroker at a small but reputable firm on Wall Street. This was a direct, high-pressure career move that showcased her formidable intelligence and ambition. She was not selling individual stocks; she was an institutional broker, dealing with large accounts and complex financial transactions for major entities.

Working alongside her father-in-law, she thrived in the competitive, high-stakes environment of the financial district during the late 1960s and early 1970s. This period was instrumental in forging her into the shrewd, financially savvy businesswoman she is today. The precision, risk assessment, and detailed analysis required of a stockbroker are the very qualities she later applied to building her media and merchandising conglomerate, *Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia*.

She maintained this high-powered career until 1972, when she and her husband, Andrew Stewart, moved their family from New York City to Westport, Connecticut. This geographic and professional shift allowed her to pursue a new passion that combined her childhood lessons with her adult business skills: a gourmet catering business, which ultimately became the true launchpad for her global fame.

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The Foundations of the Empire: From Nutley to Westport

The seeds of Martha's empire were sown in her childhood home in Nutley, New Jersey. Her mother, Martha Ruszkowski Kostyra, was her "greatest teacher," instilling in her a deep love and mastery of cooking, gardening, and homemaking skills.

The Early Entrepreneurial Spirit

Even as a child, Martha displayed an entrepreneurial spirit. She was known to organize and plan birthday parties for neighborhood children, demonstrating an early aptitude for meticulous event coordination. Her Polish heritage also played a role, with her mother teaching her traditional Polish recipes and techniques, which would later form the basis of her culinary expertise.

The move to Westport, Connecticut, and the purchase of an 1805 farmhouse—which she would later restore and name Turkey Hill—provided the perfect backdrop for her transition. Using the business acumen gained from her modeling and Wall Street years, she launched a catering company that quickly gained a reputation for its sophisticated, meticulously prepared food and presentation. This catering venture was the essential bridge between the high-flying world of finance and the domestic world she would soon dominate, proving that the young Martha Stewart was, above all else, a relentless and adaptable entrepreneur.