“I don’t know what happened,” her mother said. “We weren’t told anything about the circumstances.”
The 33-year-old Carlow woman was found unconscious on the boat that was docked at the Montauk Yacht Club in The Hamptons at around midnight on Tuesday.
According to police, the post-mortem examination “did not show evidence of violence”.
However according to the New York Post, Suffolk homicide detectives who were dispatched to the scene shortly after the body was found have not ruled out foul play.
According to local outlet 27east, shocked club members only learned of the tragedy when they heard a man screaming shortly before the body was found.
Two crewmen from a nearby craft then rushed over to the 54-foot vessel, named Ripple, and called 911 before attempting to revive Nolan-O’Slatarra, the outlet claims.
Martha Nolan-O’Slatarra
News in 90 Seconds – Aug 7th
According to the New York Post, the “good Samaritans” tried to resuscitate her after she was found unconscious on the boat, before she was pronounced dead.
Ms Nolan-O’Slatarra’s mother said she learned about her daughter’s death on Tuesday night, but has been left in the dark about what happened on the boat where she was found.
“I feel numb and in shock,” she told The Irish Independent. “My younger daughter, Jacqui, arrived in on Tuesday night and she was crying and shaking. She said, ‘I have terrible news, Martha’s dead’.”
“I don’t know what happened,” her mother said. “We weren’t told anything about the circumstances.”
Ms Nolan last spoke to her daughter on July 29 in relation to plans she had for a visit home this week.
“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.
The Newyork Post said Carlow-born Nolan-O’Slatarra was a “popular Big Apple designer” who was a well-known local figure at the upscale waterfront community in the Hamptons.
Martha Nolan-O’Slatarra
They say the tragedy has shaken many in Montauk, a summer retreat known for its wealth.
The yacht club’s clientele has included some of the nation’s most famous figures, including JP Morgan, Vincent Astor, Harold Vanderbilt and Charles Lindbergh, according to its website.
Martha’s business partner Dylan Grace, who started the design company East x East with her in 2023 posted a moving farewell message on Instagram on Wednesday.
“We dreamed big together, laughed harder than anyone else could understand and built so much for nothing,” he wrote.
“I’m truly blessed and grateful to have had you in my life,” Grace wrote. “Love you so much Mar. Fly high girl.”
Last month, she celebrated a pop-up shop at the exclusive Montauk spa, the Gurney’s Resort, who said they were “deeply saddened by the tragic news regarding Martha Nolan”.
“(We) extend our sincere condolences to her family and loved ones,” the spa said in a statement Wednesday.
“While Martha was not an employee of Gurney’s, we were proud to host her East x East pop-up and admired her entrepreneurial spirit and creative vision,” the statement added.
Martha Nolan-O’Slatarra
Ms Nolan-O’Slatarra worked in Ireland until 2015 when she emigrated to the US. She set up East x East, a luxury brand for sunglasses, swimwear and resort wear for men and women.
She was also director of operations at investment firm K4 Capital and ran an Amazon fashion brand, Duper.
During a phone conversation with a homicide detective in Montauk, her mother said she was directed to the medical examiner’s office for more information.
“The detective said Martha was dead, that he was sorry,” she said. “I asked him where she was and he said she was on a boat.
“I asked him who she was with. He said he couldn’t release information because it was too early on in the investigation. He instructed me to phone the medical examiner’s office.”
Ms Nolan-O’Slatarra lived in Manhattan’s upper east side. In her most recent TikTok post she was celebrating her brand’s pop-up shop on the beach in the Hamptons.
She came to America in her 20s and was thriving in New York
A former colleague of Ms Nolan’s said: “She was such a hard worker and brilliant at her job. She would come up with amazing marketing ideas and then execute them.
“Martha knew what she wanted and she would get it done. She came to America in her 20s and was thriving in New York, which is a tough city.
“She didn’t go out partying. She had a bright future ahead of her and she was moving into swimwear, which is a lucrative market. She loved being around models and loved her job.”
Ms Nolan-O’Slatarra spoke to the Irish Independent last year about her entrepreneurial spirit and her love of fashion.
She said it inspired her to merge her “love for travel” with her knowledge of marketing.
She also spoke of her “hard-work mindset” and determination.
“Carlow is a small town, I was the small-town girl who needed to get out to achieve her big dreams,” she said.
“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.”
Speaking about networking and business relationships, she said she had made new friends through her career but she still had all her Carlow friends.
Ms Nolan-O’Slatarra studied commerce at UCD before completing a master’s in digital marketing at Smurfit Business School.
She previously worked as a digital marketing executive for a fashion brand in Dublin and as an associate consultant for Nasdaq Calypso Technology.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said her death is an “absolutely devastating blow to the family” and her community in Co Carlow.
He said she was “a young, beautiful, very talented, creative woman” and his thoughts and prayers were with her family.