• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

OpenAI says its AI models secretly broke out of a secure test environment and hacked into AI company Hugging Face in order to cheat on an evaluation

2

Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock

3

Mathematicians grapple with a ‘very rapid and very unsettling change’ as AI cracks yet another century-old problem

1

OpenAI says its AI models secretly broke out of a secure test environment and hacked into AI company Hugging Face in order to cheat on an evaluation

2

Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock

3

Mathematicians grapple with a ‘very rapid and very unsettling change’ as AI cracks yet another century-old problem
MPWMost Powerful Women

Gwyneth Paltrow hires ex-Martha Stewart chief as Goop CEO

By
Patricia Sellers
Patricia Sellers
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Patricia Sellers
Patricia Sellers
Down Arrow Button Icon
October 6, 2014, 6:12 AM ET
photograph by Alicia Swedenborg
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Is Gwyneth Paltrow setting herself up to become the next Martha Stewart?

That seems to be the case, given the person she’s picked to run Goop, her growing lifestyle startup. The well-known actress, upping her relevance in the entrepreneurial arena, revealed this morning that she has hired Lisa Gersh, the former CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSO), to be the new CEO of Goop.

Gersh, a savvy media-industry executive with well over a decade of startup experience, left Stewart’s company early last year, after just six months at the helm, over disagreements with the veteran lifestyle guru about how to expand her business. At Goop, she’ll apply her strategic thinking about marrying content and commerce toward helping Paltrow compete with Stewart and build her own global lifestyle brand.

Gersh, who is attending the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit with Paltrow in Laguna Niguel, California, this week, says she was drawn to what she sees as a triple play: the ability to marry digital content, commerce and advertising. “I love businesses with three revenue streams,” she says. (Watch Paltrow live on stage at the Summit, talking about Goop and Gersh at 7 p.m. EST Tuesday on Fortune.com.)

Goop has been focused on content–from wardrobe to wellness to travel tips, curated by Paltrow and her dozen employees–and has so far generated little revenue. Gersh says that she and Paltrow intend to start bringing in advertising in the first quarter of 2015; they also plan to sell Goop-branded goods as well as other products developed in partnership with established designers. This past summer, Goop collaborated with Diane von Furstenberg on several pieces, including two dresses and a jumpsuit that were sold exclusively on Goop.com.

Gersh says Goop has opportunities to grow in many areas, including beauty and home as well as apparel. “Goop crosses a bunch of different categories,” she says. “We’re deciding where to go first.”

Appropriately for a lifestyle partnership-in-the-making, Paltrow offered Gersh the Goop CEO job over a home-cooked dinner in early June. “Gwyneth invited me over to her house in LA for dinner, which she pulled off effortlessly,” says Gersh. Over “an amazing chicken stir-fry” and salmon with hoisin sauce, the two women brainstormed what Goop’s future might look like with Gersh at the helm. (At one point, they were “appropriately interrupted by a call for homework help” from Paltrow’s two grade school-aged children, Gersh recalls. “That’s real life.”)

Paltrow started Goop in 2008 in London, where she lived with her husband, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. The couple split (or more famously, “consciously uncoupled”) last March; three months later Paltrow moved Goop to Los Angeles and realized she needed to hire a U.S.-based CEO. Paltrow and Gersh met, actually, through another lifestyle entrepreneur, fitness guru Tracy Anderson, last year. Following her exit from Martha Stewart, Gersh was helping Anderson find a CEO for her business; she and Paltrow, who is a friend of Anderson and an aficionado of her intense exercise regimens, bonded over being “two entrepreneurial working moms,” Gersh says.

While their lifestyles now may seem to be in sync, Paltrow and Gersh started out completely different. Paltrow, 42, was raised in Manhattan by her renowned actor parents, Blythe Danner and the late Bruce Paltrow, and attended the tony Spence school. Gersh, 55, grew up in the Bronx, where her dad owned a fabric and needlepoint store and struggled to make ends meet. Gersh went to public school and put herself through college—SUNY Binghamton—and law school at Rutgers.

A challenging childhood—working since she was 12 years old—instilled in Gersh a fierce ambition to succeed. She co-founded Oxygen Media with Geraldine Laybourne in 1998 and served as president and COO there until NBC Universal bought the company in 2007. She stayed on at NBCU as president of strategic initiatives for three years until Martha came calling.

Gersh’s drive isn’t limited to her business career. In September, she won the Liberty National golf club championship near her home in New Jersey. (She has a 10.2 handicap.) And like Paltrow, she’s a Tracy Anderson fanatic—she does the exercise regimen four days a week. Which makes you wonder, could Goop have big ambitions in the exercise business? That would be a good bet.

About the Author
By Patricia Sellers
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in MPW

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • TikTok icon
  • YouTube icon

Latest in MPW

Inside Flavor Flav’s unlikely effort to help female Olympians build their brands and careers
NewslettersMPW Daily
Inside Flavor Flav’s unlikely effort to help female Olympians build their brands and careers
By Ellie AustinJuly 22, 2026
2 hours ago
Anthea Hartig, Director of the National Museum of American History, looks to her left at a House Committee.
PoliticsWhite House
Smithsonian director denies ‘woke’ label from Trump while defending exhibit on teen’s gender-identity diary
By Steven Sloan and The Associated PressJuly 21, 2026
24 hours ago
Cleveland’s WNBA team doesn’t play until 2028 but Progressive just scored jersey sponsorship
SuccessSports
Cleveland’s WNBA team doesn’t play until 2028 but Progressive just scored jersey sponsorship
By Joe Reedy and The Associated PressJuly 21, 2026
24 hours ago
jd
PoliticsWhite House
JD Vance becomes first sitting vice president to welcome a child in office in over 150 years
By Darlene Superville and The Associated PressJuly 20, 2026
2 days ago
Backed by Daymond John and Post Malone, this Afghan-born founder built a $150M brand. Her real mission: the women back home
Successfemale founders
Backed by Daymond John and Post Malone, this Afghan-born founder built a $150M brand. Her real mission: the women back home
By Sydney LakeJuly 20, 2026
3 days ago
t
PoliticsWhite House
Analysis: Trump approves 80% of GOP disaster aid — and 60% for Democrats
By David A. Lieb, M.K. Wildeman and The Associated PressJuly 16, 2026
6 days ago

Most Popular

OpenAI says its AI models secretly broke out of a secure test environment and hacked into AI company Hugging Face in order to cheat on an evaluation
Cybersecurity
OpenAI says its AI models secretly broke out of a secure test environment and hacked into AI company Hugging Face in order to cheat on an evaluation
By Jeremy Kahn and Emily ForliniJuly 21, 2026
1 day ago
Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock
Success
Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 20, 2026
2 days ago
Mathematicians grapple with a ‘very rapid and very unsettling change’ as AI cracks yet another century-old problem
AI
Mathematicians grapple with a ‘very rapid and very unsettling change’ as AI cracks yet another century-old problem
By Eva RoytburgJuly 21, 2026
1 day ago
Despite a $156 million contract, Knicks star Jalen Brunson still calls his parents for financial advice any time he makes a big purchase
Success
Despite a $156 million contract, Knicks star Jalen Brunson still calls his parents for financial advice any time he makes a big purchase
By Emma BurleighJuly 21, 2026
1 day ago
‘I want to die broke’: Billionaire philanthropist Denny Sanford dies after giving away $4 billion
Success
‘I want to die broke’: Billionaire philanthropist Denny Sanford dies after giving away $4 billion
By Sydney LakeJuly 20, 2026
2 days ago
'The audience is telling the industry something': even IMAX is stunned by Christopher Nolan's runaway 'Odyssey'
Arts & Entertainment
'The audience is telling the industry something': even IMAX is stunned by Christopher Nolan's runaway 'Odyssey'
By Tatiana SatauaJuly 21, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.