NYC designer Martha Nolan was an Irish immigrant with an inspiring rags-to-riches story before her untimely death on a Montauk boat

Martha Nolan-O’Slatarra was the classic American rags-to-riches story — an Irish immigrant who started off as a bottle service girl in Soho and muscled her way to a career in fashion design who summered with the rich and famous in the Hamptons.

On Tuesday, her career took a tragic detour after she was found dead on a boat at the upscale Montauk Yacht Club — with the circumstances of her final moments still shrouded in mystery.

“We dreamed big together, laughed harder than anyone else could understand and built so much from nothing,” Dylan Grace, who co-owned East x East design with Nolan-O’Slatarra, wrote in a moving tribute on Instagram on Wednesday.

“I’m truly blessed and grateful to have had you in my life,” Grace wrote. “Love you so much Mar. Fly high girl.” 

Nolan-O’Slatarra, 33, was found unconscious on a boat docked at the high-end yacht club around midnight Tuesday, and was pronounced dead despite efforts by bystanders to resuscitate her, Suffolk County police said in a press release.

An autopsy on her body determined it “did not show evidence of violence,” cops said.

However, police have not ruled out foul play — Suffolk homicide detectives were dispatched to the scene shortly after the body was found. 

According to local outlet 27east, club members learned of the tragedy when the owner of the boat where the body was found ran down the dock naked shouting, “Do something!”

Two crewmen from a nearby craft dashed to the boat — a 54-foot SeaRay named Ripple — and called 911 before attempting to revive Nolan-O’Slatarra, the outlet said.

While Nolan-O’Slatarra’s death remains a mystery, her impressive rise in her chosen industry in just a few short years is a matter of public record. 

Here is the latest on the dead body found on a Montauk Yacht Club boat

A blue-eyed beauty, she hailed from the small town of Carlow, just over 50 miles outside of Dublin, she said in an interview last year with the Irish Independent.

Studious and driven to succeed, she earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and management from University College in Dublin and went on to earn a master’s degree in digital marketing at the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business, also in Dublin, in 2014.

“I always knew I wanted to be successful, that I was money driven, business driven, and that fashion is a tough industry and it would be a slow road,” she told the Independent.

At just 26, she was vice president of client experiences for an Irish-based retail marketing agency — and bored with her career, she told the outlet.

Looking for more she moved to New York, settling down in the Upper East Side and shortening her name to Martha Nolan for her professional projects.

According to a former co-worker, Nolan began her Big Apple experience as a bottle service girl in Soho before graduating to “other things.”

“She was an entrepreneur and [was] always working on something. She knew everybody and everybody knew her,” the former colleague said. “She had really good clients in the event space and had a genuinely inspiring hustle.

“She knows how to network and talk to people and put herself out there,” they said. “She used to work in hedge fund tech. The bottle service stuff was supplemental income [to her] full-time job.”

In 2021, she launched East x East and a fashion accessories company, Duper. 

“I feel I won’t be able to work for anyone ever again,” she told the Independent. “I am good at building brands, that is why people come to me. If you have an idea, I can make it happen. I have so much resources I can lean on to launch and scale brands.”

The companies’ success was enough to allow Nolan to spend her summers in the Hamptons, where she was able to mix business with pleasure.

Last month, she celebrated a pop-up show at the exclusive Montauk spa and resort, Gurney’s. 

“We are deeply saddened by the tragic news regarding Martha Nolan and extend our sincere condolences to her family and loved ones,” the spa said in a statement.

“While Martha was not an employee of Gurney’s, we were proud to host her East x East pop-up and admire her entrepreneurial spirit and creative vision.”  

In one bump on the road, Nolan and Grace were sued in 2022 by Out East Accessories, a Manhattan luxury eyeglass outlet, and accused of stealing $34,000 from a company bank account, the entire eyewear inventory, the complaint alleged.

The suit also claimed the duo blocked the owners out of their bank account, emails and social media by changing the password.

It’s unclear if the lawsuit was ever resolved. 

Additional reporting by Alex Mitchell, Georgett Roberts, Mara Siegler, Joe Marino and Larry Celona.