Martha Aims At Wider Audience

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 realize her company may have been out of touch with ordinary Americans.

Stewart addressed her employees 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.

"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 gray and white poncho she wore when she left prison 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 newly free lifestyle guru also poked fun at her reputation as a perfectionist and promised to share credit with her employees in the future.

"I don't always do all of my own ironing, even though I wish that I could. I love ironing," she said. "What I want everybody to know is that I have been supported all of these years by all of you. ... I am extremely proud of each and every one of you."

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 kilometers (40 miles) north of midtown Manhattan.

She was not yet wearing the ankle bracelet when she addressed her employees.

Stewart was fitted for her electronic ankle bracelet this weekend that she must wear as part of her house arrest, reports CBS News Correspondent Trish Regan. She also is confined to one building on her sprawling estate. She may leave her house for 48 hours a week for work and can also work an unlimited number of hours from home.

Stewart is also scheduled to work on two TV programs - a revival of her daily homemaking show and her own version of "The Apprentice."

Counting on a bounce from Stewart's return, investors have pushed up her company's stock to triple the level it was when she was convicted one year ago of lying about a stock sale.

But the stock price has given back some of the gains since her release, and the company last week reported a fourth-quarter loss of $7.3 million, compared with a profit of $2.4 million a year earlier. The drop reflects declining magazine advertising revenue and the suspension of Stewart's daily cooking show.

Stewart resigned as chief executive and chairwoman of her company in June 2003, after her indictment. Following her conviction, she stepped down as chief creative officer and resigned from the company's board, but remains as founding editorial director.

Rebuffed twice in her attempts to obtain new trials, Stewart opted to enter prison early rather remain free pending her appeal. An appeal hearing is scheduled for March 17.