Martha Stewart, founder and creator of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, talks to a Korean audience about her success story at a seminar, ”Super Talk,” hosted by Hyundai Card at the headquarters of the nation’s second-largest credit card issuer in Yeouido, Seoul, Wednesday. / Courtesy of Hyundai Card

'It's better to be a late bloomer than never to bloom at all'

By Kim Jae-kyoung

“Is it too late to begin a new career and succeed when you are 50?”

Most people may answer a big “yes,” but one female entrepreneur in her 70s replied “definitely no.”

For Martha Stewart, creator and founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, age is no more than just a number. During a seminar, “Super Talk,” hosted by Hyundai Card last Tuesday, she stressed that it is never late to start a new thing as long as you have urgency about your life.

“I was 40 years old when I wrote my first book ‘Entertaining’ and I was 50 years old when we launched our first magazine ‘Martha Stewart Living.’ It has been an extraordinary learning experience for me and an extraordinary financial success,” she said.

“I think the age of 40 or 50 can be a great time to start a new career. You know who you are, certainly know what you want and what your passions are. You can have a sense of urgency about your life and your career. I’m proud to be a late bloomer. It’s better to be a late bloomer than never to bloom at all.”

She also emphasizes that those who want to start something new should always try to learn new things and look ahead.

“To thrive in business and in life you must be forward-thinking. Learning is a life-long endeavor. That’s how we grow and evolve. I challenge myself and my colleagues to learn something new every day,” she said.

“Before I go to bed, I ask myself, “Did I learn something today? Did I learn something good and important?” If I haven’t, I will get up and go learn something. I read another page of a book or I do something else.”

The following is her insight and philosophy about good living that were shared by the queen of domesticity in a Q&A session following the seminar.

Q. All countries have different cultures and different lifestyles. What is the secret that has made Martha Stewart accepted and loved all around the world despite all the differences?

A: U.S. movie director and producer Steven Spielberg lives down the street from me. He said to me when we met walking in the morning, “I hope you realize that you have elevated the ordinary to the extraordinary. It is no longer a chore to be homemaker and it is now actually a pleasure.” I think that’s really what people realize that it doesn’t have to be work, work and work. It’s much more pleasant and much more rewarding.

Q. Korean working moms are struggling to maintain a balance in life due to very tight schedules. Can you give them some tips on how to balance life and enjoy it more?

A:It’s very hard to maintain a balance — working, taking care of babies and husbands and doing household chores. I think we have to eliminate some of the chaos caused by too many computers in the house, too much sitting down looking at the Internet all the time. You have to balance your time. It’s more about time management than anything else.
You have to give the children as much time as you can by making good food and having them involved in creation of the meals. It’s a very important balancing act and it can be done. When you really love what you do, it’s much more than work. For me, my work is life and my life is work. They both could be either.

Q. It seems that you are a perfectionist. Since you have a tight schedule all the time, you must sometimes get stressed out. What do you do to relieve your stress?

A: I have a lot of hobbies. One of them is hiking in the mountains. I have a house in the mountains. Another one is horseback riding. You can forget about pretty much everything. Horseback riding is like flying a plane. You have to pay attention and you can’t think about anything else. The third thing now is taking care of babies. My daughter just had a baby three months ago and it (spending time with her) is very relaxing.

Q. What was the most difficult time for you and how did you overcome it?

A:The great thing about our company is that customers really enjoy what we do. What we write, what we manufacture and what we design. Even in hard times when I had to spend five months in jail, customers never left us, and that gave me and my employees a great deal of confidence and a great deal of joy. For us it’s all about the customers, giving customers what he or she needs or wants.

Q. Can you help Korea globalize Korean food?

A:We’ve already been taking care of that. We are going to do a program on Korean cooking in the fall