Misunderstood Martha
Not Another Influencer
Have you seen the new Martha documentary? It’s compelling. The fact that she was wildly successful in so many different endeavors in so many different eras is remarkable. Some people just have an innate understanding of how media operate. Combine that with creating a world people want to be part of—that makes you a fortune.
I don’t have strong opinions about Martha Stewart—she seems like an exacting person and probably quite difficult too—but I’m interested in this idea, now being chirped about, that she was the original influencer. I think that undersells her achievements and glorifies the mediocrity of modern influence culture. Stewart was on the vanguard of many trends we have terms for now—mostly dealing with aspirational lifestyle (the phrase alone gives me the shivers). But the key to her empire was not the premise that buying something will make you happy. It’s that doing something—and specifically learning skills—can help you entertain and connect you to family and friends.
You may not reach the heights that she reached—who could—but you could aspire to. And this is aspiration in a good way. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to improve your cooking, your gardening or whatever else. Without getting caught up in the Martha-land—she had to sell a lot of sheets at K-Mart and make a few enemies along the way to fund her various houses—I do think it’s worth learning techniques. Then you can actually use the kitchen instead of just decking it out and posting photos on Instagram.