You've all seen her supervising the mayhem, but have you ever wondered how she became the owner of the bar Emory students visit in droves?

Before purchasing the restaurant that now bears her name, Margaret Martin worked as an office manager for a construction company. Her love of cooking led to her career change.

Margaret Martin — known by all simply as Maggie — is from a small town in Mississippi and has lived in Atlanta since she was 12 years old. She's divorced and has a daughter, named Amanda. Prior to owning Maggie's, she worked as the office manager for a construction company.

Maggie says she always knew she wanted to get into the restaurant business because she loves to cook, but she also knew that a bar/restaurant would be more lucrative.

She inquired about buying what was then called the Toco Tavern, which she said was "horribly grungy," and on February 19, 1990, she became the new owner of Maggie's Bar and Grill.

She put in a lot of effort to revamp her bar and bring in more customers. "When I first bought this place, there were six people who would come, and three of them were passed out," she said. "Then we started going to Emory's fraternity parties."

Maggie says she has enjoyed mixing with the Emory students over the years. "I feel like the students keep me young," she said. This sentiment also frames her response to those who offer to buy Maggie's: "No," she said. "Then what would I do?"

Changing Maggie's has kept her pretty busy. Some additions to the beer, pool and blackjack video games over the last couple of years have been trivia Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. and karaoke Monday nights at 11 p.m. Maggie said she wants to keep the environment constantly fun. "I really do love it," she said.

- Stephanie Weintraub