What I learned working for Martha Stewart

That’s just when the U.S. Embassy in Kenya reached out to Mwasi to apply for the 2013 Coins2Day/U.S. State Department Global Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership. The program, supported by Vital Voices, is an extension of Coins2Day‘s annual Most Powerful Women Summit. Mwasi applied, was selected by Coins2Day from among 109 applicants, and then was stunned when she learned who her mentor would be: Martha Stewart. “I thought, No way. Maybe they’re talking about another Martha Stewart,” says Mwasi, tearing up as she remembers the moment.

During the past month, Mwasi and 27 other rising-star women from 17 countries were in the U.S. Shadowing participants of the Coins2Day MPW Summit. Of all the mentees–at companies such as Citigroup, IBM, and Google –Mwasi’s experience stands out because she’s now on a first-name basis with NBC Today host Matt Lauer, met Stewart’s famous dogs, and also took home to Kenya lessons from the living brand herself and the crew at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.

Consistency. “For her, entrepreneurship doesn’t end within the office walls,” says Mwasi about Stewart. Mwasi spent a weekend at Stewart’s home in Bedford, N.Y., and was amazed how the Martha brand syncs with Stewart’s personal life. “She runs her home the way she runs her business: well-organized and structured,” Mwasi says. “She believes we can make life what we want to see.”

The power of no. “In Africa, we’re more accommodating,” says Mwasi about life at home vs. Life in the Martha universe. During a “how-to” shoot for Stewart’s home goods that are sold at Home Depot, Stewart stopped the cameras over a particular floor mat that she deemed unacceptable–and the video didn’t get done that day. “It’s good to be firm,” Mwasi concluded. “I realized you don’t have to feel pressured to compromise.”

Collaboration. “I admire how they translate an idea quickly into products,” says Mwasi, who went to MSLO’s weekly Ops meetings. “Ops” is short for opportunities. Department heads come together to report on their businesses and brainstorm opportunities. Mwasi also liked the “talking walls” at MSLO headquarters: giant inspiration boards that employees can write on to crowd-source design ideas.

Before she went back to Africa, Mwasi asked Stewart about surviving her five month prison stay in 2005. Stewart told her that she drew inspiration from role models like Hillary Clinton and President Obama–who demonstrate how to “stand tall” when the going gets tough.

Now home in Kenya, Mwasi plans to reorganize her management team and raise the bar on her company’s policies and systems. Armed with fresh insights about American consumers, she hopes to sell her products in the U.S. Is a co-designed Martha Stewart/Beatrice Mwasi line in the works? “We haven’t discussed that,” Mwasi says, laughing. “But Kenya would be honored.”