Martha goes back to work
2005-03-08 11:23
New York - Fighting back tears at times, Martha Stewart told cheering employees on her first day back at work that prison was a life-changing experience that made her realise her company may have been out of touch with ordinary Americans.
Dressed in a chocolate-brown suit and pumps, Stewart addressed her employees on Monday from a stage where a simple bouquet of yellow daffodils sat in a glass vase atop a stool.
Behind her were giant posters of her magazine's April cover with a photo of daffodils and a headline appropriate for the day: "Just in time for Spring."
"I love all of you from the bottom of my heart - I'm really glad to be home," she said, choking up at the end of her speech. Afterward, she stepped off stage and embraced co-workers one by one.
Stewart, 63, told the employees that she "learned a great deal about our country" in meeting a cross-section of Americans at the federal women's prison at Alderson, West Virginia.
She said that her experience would lead to changes at her homemaking empire that would make it more accessible to ordinary people.
Engage and inspire
"We're going to engage and inspire new readers and new viewers for whom these topics may have seemed alien, unfamiliar or even - believe it or not - superficial," she said.
The company was perhaps too focused on the technical aspects of entertaining and cooking, she said, and not enough on why people need to nurture and take care of each other.
"Starting now, we must communicate not only the how-to that we've been so proud of, but also the why," she told the group gathered at the Manhattan offices of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, overlooking the Hudson River.
She also held up the grey and white poncho she wore when she left prison on Friday. She said it did not come from a fancy store, but was crocheted by a fellow inmate, with yarn from the commissary.
"The night before I left, she handed me this ... and said, 'Wear it in good health,"' Stewart said. "I hope she is reading the news and looking at television because I'm so proud of her."
The company's new chief executive and president, Susan Lyne, introduced Stewart to a standing ovation as "your teacher, my inspiration, our founder".
Under the terms of her home detention, Stewart will be required to wear an electronic-monitoring device on her ankle, but is allowed to work 48 hours a week outside her country home 65 kilometres north of midtown Manhattan.
She was not yet wearing the ankle bracelet when she addressed her employees. Stewart had 72 hours from the time of her release to set up a meeting with a probation officer during which she would get fitted with the device.
- AP