An up-and-coming fashion designer who was found dead in a boat at a Hamptons yacht club last week had recently finalized a divorce.
Martha Nolan-O’Slatarra, 33, was in the middle of uncontested divorce proceedings from her husband, Sam Ryan, as recently as April, according to New York County Supreme Court filings obtained by the New York Post.
She had since apparently moved onto a new relationship and was reportedly planning to marry her new boyfriend, who was not onboard the 54-foot SeaRay named Ripple at the Montauk Yacht Club last Tuesday, according to the Irish Independent.
Instead, she had texted her new beau that she would take an Uber home following what she described as a business outing.
Nolan-O’Slattara had founded luxury bathing suit company East x East in 2021, and had recently set up a new shop showing off her wares at Gurney’s Montauk Resort and Seawater Spa.
Yet it remains unclear who she was meeting onboard the Ripple, where she was found unconscious in the early morning hours of August 5.
Good Samaritans attempted life-saving measures, but East Hampton Town Police pronounced her dead at the scene.
Investigators now say Nolan-O’Slatarra’s body showed no signs of violence, but have not yet ruled out foul play.
Martha Nolan-O’Slatarra, 33, the founder of fashion label East x East, was found unconscious onboard a boat docked at the Montauk Yacht Club last week
Good Samaritans tried life saving measures, but Nolan-O’Slatarra was pronounced dead at the scene
Many in the wealthy enclave have now been left reeling as questions remain about what may have happened to the Manhattan resident, whom locals described to the New York Post as ‘well-known in the community’.
‘She was very friendly, always smiling,’ one local said. ‘There’s going to be a lot of conversation out of this.’
One boater at the scene has since described the ship as a ‘party boat’ and told Daily Mail she heard screams when the woman’s body was found. Others said a naked man was seen running for help.
The fashion designer lived a ritzy lifestyle in New York City before her untimely death, and often shared pictures of herself enjoying private jets and living it up with her glamorous pals.
On her TikTok account, Nolan-O’Slatarra was seen with her friends taking a Falcon jet to Nashville for a concert in 2021, with the designer highlighting her ‘#milehighclub’ and ‘#privatejet’ life in the captions.
Last October, she shared a video of herself and a male companion drinking bubbly as they flew over a sunny, rural looking area. She captioned the short clip: ‘Heli on up.’
Nolan-O’Slattara also shared a TikTok clip of herself with the same man sitting in a luxurious convertible car as it drove through picturesque countryside.
But Nolan-O’Slattara’s beginnings were more humble, growing up in the small town of Carlow, Ireland, roughly 55 miles outside of Dublin.
The fashion designer lived a ritzy lifestyle in New York City before her untimely death
She had settled a divorce from her husband just months before her untimely death
On her TikTok account, Nolan-O’Slatarra was seen with her friends taking a Falcon jet to Nashville for a concert in 2021
She left home at 16 after her parents sent her to the highly-regarded Institute of Education, a private secondary school in Dublin.
From there, Nolan-O’Slattara attended University College Dublin, where she studied the fundamentals of business as an undergraduate and later earned a master’s degree in digital marketing.
Once she completed her degrees, Nolan-O’Slatarra interviewed for graduate scheme positions at major companies, including Deloitte and Ernst & Young, but said she was told it would be nine months before she would be informed of a hiring decision.
The entrepreneur was looking for a ‘change’ in the interim and ended up in the US in 2015 after her dad bought her a one-way ticket to New York City, the newspaper reports.
Although she only intended to be in the city for nine months, Nolan-O’Slatarra got a job at fintech start-up Street Diligence, a company that worked with what she described as ‘top-tier hedge funds’.
She claimed the firm’s CEO offered to pursue visa sponsorship after she successfully landed investment bank Jefferies as a client.
Nolan-O’Slattara was accused in a civil lawsuit of stealing $34,000 from Out East Accessories Inc along with East x East co-owner Dylan Grace (pictured together)
Nolan-O’Slattara then left Street Diligence after two years and bounced around between jobs.
In late 2021, the fashionista was accused in a civil lawsuit of being terminated from Out East Accessories Inc. for cause, then stealing $34,000 from the company’s bank account and its entire inventory of luxury eyewear along with East x East co-owner Dylan Grace, according to Fox News.
The suit also claimed the duo locked the owners of the luxury eyeglass outlet out of their bank accounts, emails and social media accounts by changing the passwords.
Additionally, Out East Accessories Inc. said Nolan-O’Slatarra and Grace sold or gifted their products without authorization and caused irreparable financial harm to the business.
The lawsuit was ultimately settled in July 2022, after Nolan-O’Slatarra had already started her own firm Brand Growth Consultants, and launched her direct-to-consumer Amazon brand Duper as well as the resort wear line.
Nolan-O’Slatarra grew up in the small town of Carlow, Ireland, roughly 55 miles outside of capital city Dublin
Nolan-O’Slatarra’s mother said she was planning on returning home to Ireland
In an interview with the Irish Independent last year, Nolan-O’Slatarra said she ‘loved’ her new life in New York City.
‘I was the small town girl who needed to get out to achieve her big dreams,’ she said, highlighting how she was ‘money driven’, ‘business driven’ and ‘always knew I wanted to be successful.’
But now her family is trying desperately to bring her body back home as they demand answers from the local police department.
‘I don’t know what happened to my daughter,’ her mother, Elma Nolan, said days after Martha, 33, was tragically found dead.
She said that her youngest daughter and Martha’s sister, Jacqui, broke the horrifying news to her, saying she ‘arrived on Tuesday night and she was crying and shaking.’
‘She said, “I have terrible news. Martha’s dead,”‘ Elma recalled to the Irish Independent. ‘
Her heartbroken mom said the tragedy came as her daughter was planning a trip home to visit her family in Carlow.
Recalling her last phone call with her daughter, Elma said that they briefly discussed Martha’s travel plans for her vacation home to Ireland.
‘She wanted to know if I would be around to pick her up,’ she said.
‘It was a very quick call because she is so busy. But that’s the last time we spoke.’
