The Heartwarming Way Martha Stewart Honored Her Mom On Mother's Day

You know how the saying goes: Behind every woman who shapes a generation's concept of domesticity, builds an empire, and continues to dominate the industry and create new ones well into her 80s ... is a mom who taught her how to do it. And Martha Stewart is giving credit where credit is due on her TikTok this Mother's Day, with a video dedicated to the lady who taught her everything she knows: her mom. In her cookbook, "Martha Stewart's Quick Cook," she refers to her mother, Martha Kostyra, and her grandmother as her "early teachers" (via Martha Stewart). They gave a young Stewart the tools (and, presumably, bakeware) to go from sous-cheffing pierogies in a home kitchen to creating a line of CBD products and sipping wine with Snoop.

Well, okay, maybe "Big Martha," (as Stewart calls her) couldn't have seen that far down the line. But "Everything from your mother!" Kostyra chirps from a TV appearance on Stewart's former television program, confirming that when Stewart tells people where she got her skills from, there is only one acceptable answer. 2022 will mark 15 years since Kostyra died, according to the LA Times, and Stewart's loving TikTok tribute, which she reposted on Instagram, gives fans who might not even be old enough to remember Stewart's show, let alone Kostyra's cameos, a glimpse into a very special relationship.

"This is my mother, Big Martha," Stewart says in the TikTok video. "But I've grown taller than she," she says, taking a step closer to her mom in an old episode of Stewart's TV show. And indeed, even back then Stewart towered over the tiny, Polish-American woman, who the LA Times said died after suffering a stroke when she was 93 years old. "My mother spent most of the time in the kitchen, cooking, baking, and sewing," she wrote in a 1985 book (according to Martha Stewart), and it's clear that her mother's words (and treats) live on through Stewart's own life to this very day.

A section of Stewart's website is dedicated to "family recipes from Big Martha," and Stewart's heartwarming Mother's Day tribute shows that the tiny woman's huge impact is never far from the business mogul's mind. According to Stewart's blog, she was even inspired to publish "a guide to caregiving" in 2008, to mark the one-year anniversary of Big Martha's death. And on the Instagram repost of her tribute video, one follower commented, "I remember this era. So enjoyed your segments with your mom." If it's true that our spirit lives on in those who keep our memory alive, then the spirit of Big Martha, present in so much of Stewart's life's work, is not only still around but has been shared by millions around the world.