What Martha Stewart Really Did For A Living Before Her Fame

When it comes to Martha Stewart, it's not a matter of who knows her but who doesn't. The business maven is a force to be reckoned with within the home and lifestyle space — having conjured countless books, shows, magazine columns, and more, thanks to her lifelong passion for cooking, crafts, gardening, and home renovation. She also kickstarted a string of lucrative businesses, which helped her become the first-ever self-made female millionaire.

Stewart chalks her success up to her street smarts, sprinkled with a bit of luck. In her interview with Fortune, she also noted that her dedication to imparting valuable knowledge to people keeps her going even decades into the game. "I consider myself a master teacher," she declared. "In gardening, cooking, creating, decorating, crafting, holiday celebrations. It's all of those things. That legacy will end with 98 books so far, and thousands of television programs."

Make no mistake. Stewart most definitely didn't reach the pinnacle of success overnight. In fact, she didn't even get her start in the home industry. Before she first wrote her first cookbook, she dabbled in various jobs, including modeling and trading stocks on Wall Street.

Martha Stewart is a woman of all trades, but you already knew that. Before her meteoric rise to becoming a household name, she was already quite the hustler, having put herself through college by modeling. Vogue noted that she secured a steady gig that earned her $50 an hour modeling for brands like Chanel. After graduating from Barnard College with a degree in history and architectural history, she then scored a job as a stockbroker at Wall Street, which helped a great deal in honing her business acumen.

Stewart told People that she valued that experience as it allowed her to thrive in a traditionally male-dominated environment. She probably wouldn't even have left that industry if she didn't follow her true passion. "The most important of my early jobs was being a stockbroker, and I lasted in that business for about eight years, working in a firm of all men. Only one woman-owned a seat on the [New York Stock] Exchange at that time," she recalled. "I had a very successful career in the stock market, and I sometimes regret not staying in that business, because becoming an investment banker would've been pretty fabulous. But I was lured to the home."

Martha Stewart prides herself in building an empire from scratch. In a personal essay penned for her website, the business mogul shared that it took tenacity and commitment to get to where she is. "When I'm asked how and when I knew I would build a very strong and influential brand, I always say that it just 'happened,'" she wrote. "It happened, but not without years of hard work and dedication, not without constant retooling of my peculiar and intense self-education in all things that pique my curiosity, and not without complete immersion in the idea of home and the vast subject of what I call 'living.'"

The "Martha Stewart Living" founder's career hit some snags over the years, including a prison stint brought about by insider trading. When everyone thought that she wouldn't be able to turn her reputation around, she surprised the world by rebuilding both her image and her businesses. How? She simply believed in her capabilities. "If you believe in yourself, everything will be fine," she told ET. "My customers believed in me, I believed in me." She also learned how to pay any detractors no mind. "Why bother? When you're OK, you're OK," she said. Talk about iconic!