Martha Stewart came to Dallas on Thursday as part of an ongoing "distinctive speaker series" at the AT&T Performing Arts Center's Winspear Opera House. Steve Noviello of Fox 4 led a conversation with Stewart onstage in a living room setup with two armchairs and a rug in the middle of the stage.
Typically, when people buy tickets to see a band perform live, they're hoping for something more than what they can hear on the album, like a different take on a popular song or an impromptu guitar riff. "A Conversation with Martha Stewart" could have benefitted from more figurative guitar riffs.
Being present for Noviello's conversation with Stewart was less like observing a substantive interview and more like watching Noviello and Stewart chat on a cable news morning show. The format that I was hoping would lend itself to Stewart getting candid about her life and career actually felt a bit shallow and bent toward promotion of her latest book and business ventures. My assumption was that, with no cameras around, the conversation could get a little more personal.
But, no, Stewart's prison time in 2004 for lying to investigators about a stock sale was not discussed at all. In fact, had you not known of Stewart prior to the coming that night, you wouldn't have any idea that her life had any bumps at all, which, in the end, really did a disservice to the audience. I would have loved to hear how her public legal woes affected her mindset and attitude after returning to business or how she continued to find ways to thrive.
Martha Stewart is a household name and has managed to build a global brand, but I left without knowing what Stewart believes she did to uniquely accomplish all her successes. I wanted to hear about her approach to new business, how she decides what book to publish next, or times when she regretted business decisions. In Noviello's defense, he did ask some pointed questions along these lines like examples of products that had failed or products that she flagged for failure and withheld from the market under her brand. But Stewart wasn't giving Noviello much slack and was vague with any answer to those questions.
Instead, the near hour-and-a-half program began with biographical information quickly covering her childhood, her early modeling career, and how she got to be a stockbroker. She mentioned that during her stockbroking days, she met the late Ross Perot on a business trip and described him as a "funny, squeaky little man" to the amusement of the audience.
After retiring from brokering, Stewart started a catering business and name-dropped catering for celebrities like Tina Turner and Paul Newman while she was still getting established, and joked about a time when she covered up a catering mishap after her dogs snuck some bites. The conversation transitioned quickly then to her newest book The Martha Manual: How to Do (Almost) Everything, which is impressively her 94th book.
Stewart also spoke about how recently she has been interested in what she called "successful aging" and said she recently opened an outpatient health care center focusing on people over the age of 65. The only time when Stewart came close to getting political was when she strongly stated that she thought "the president should be focusing more on aging." Though admittedly, I couldn't determine if there was a specific policy to which she was referring.
Stewart also hinted that her next project was going to concern online education, potentially offering certification courses to housekeepers or others who could benefit from her homestyle brand.
The night ended with advice on how to make guests comfortable in your home as a host by staying organized with lists, sticking to simple menus with not too many choices, and giving yourself enough time to prepare. Somewhat disappointingly, it was probably the most clear advice of the conversation.
Stewart's appearance at Winspear was the third of four parts in the #hearhere series. Sarah Koenig and Julie Snyder of Serial podcast fame and Jane Fonda were previously featured in the series, and on July 27, Iyanla Vanzant will be the final guest.