Cover girl, Dior Beauty muse, mother of Elon Musk, the richest man on the planet, nothing can resist the charismatic Maye Musk! An extraordinary journey that leaves you dreaming… And yet, everything has not always been luxury, glamor and success. The famous septuagenarian shares her poignant story in her latest book “The lessons of a lifetime”, the opportunity for her to look back on her existence made of struggles. Page after page, we discover a fantastic personal development guide for facing adversity. Universal and powerful, everyone will learn from it in order to take charge of their lives. Somewhere in this book, we talk about you…
After reading your book, we want to conquer the world! You could have given up a thousand times but, on the contrary, you have always shown resilience and optimism. How to cultivate this steely mind?
Maye Musk : I had no choice, I had to survive above all. When I left my abusive husband and father of my children, I had to secure our future. We had to repeat to ourselves that there was only one way out: get out of this! We fall, we get up and we start again. If you are unhappy in your personal or professional life, develop a plan and solutions to improve your life. Only you can be in charge, be aware of that! You can’t control everything that happens to you, but you can have the life you want at any age. You just need to have a strategy. I am living proof. Remember that you can always get through it if you take matters into your own hands.
“Having a plan” is the central theme of your book, the original title of which is “A Woman makes a plan”. But how do you develop an effective plan when you’re navigating the unknown and experiencing a series of failures and trials?
Learn how to get around difficulties! When I arrived in Canada with my meager savings, I had to start from scratch by going door to door to doctors to get them to agree to collaborate with me. No one wanted me, a nutritionist fresh from South Africa, who aspired to offer her services to their patients. Despite my canvassing, my spontaneous applications, my repeated phone calls, I was ignored. So I developed a plan to prove the effectiveness of my expertise. So, I suggested doing an experiment on patients in order to prove that there would be a before and after thanks to my support. My strategy paid off! People started asking me.
During all this time, I never gave up modeling because this activity allowed me to improve our financial situation.
And today you are a cover girl, Maye Musk! How do you experience this model status that we strive for?
It’s an everyday joy! I savor every moment. Me, the haute couture muse for this symbol of French refinement and chic that is the House of Dior, I have the impression of living a waking dream… When I had my children, it was already becoming harder to find contracts, then as I approached forty, the ax finally fell: the fashion industry made me invisible. Modeling was not my main activity, just a passion and the possibility of putting butter in the spinach. Being able to afford an economy class ticket to go see my mother for example, buy new clothes for my children and myself… So my goal was to stay in business. It didn’t matter what role I was put in.
At 42, I was booked to play the grandmother in a campaign, then I was asked to be the woman who would illustrate commercials for mattresses or aspirin tablets. We always need a woman with white hair to play these kinds of roles!
Isn’t that frustrating and revolting?! Moreover, the studies follow one another and are similar: the first factor of discrimination in the professional world is linked to age. What advice would you give to women who do not want to see their horizons limited to their biological age?
From experience, I can tell you that it is often men who start to ignore women of a certain age. Men who are often decision-makers since they hold positions of power. It is a fact. Women don’t have to slow down as they get older, men don’t slow down! For my part, I explore everything, I have fun, I get busy. Don’t let age slow you down or stop you from moving forward. Take care of yourself as best you can by eating healthily, being active, smiling and confident. Above all, don’t be afraid of growing old because you can age very well today. I also invite women to surround themselves with inspiring, caring figures.
Don’t agree to go to work with a knot in your stomach, we spend so much time there! Turn the situation around, even if you think you’ll have nothing left afterward. Deploy your energy to find better. Also learn to capitalize on social networks. Today, your best business card is the content you share on platforms. Be creative, show who you are, your artistic and sporting talents… Let those around you know. Everyone has a talent that they can share with others. I have a lot of fun on social networks, I manage my Instagram account myself. Well, it’s true that my great assistant helps me produce good reels and elaborate stories.
With social networks, there is this other reality having exacerbated the cult of appearance and superficiality… How to exist in this world which has starred «Barbie dolls» — unnatural — in other words, a new norm exerting pressure additional on women?
Everyone has their own interpretation of happiness and thrives through this concept. I will not anathematize these women who bet everything on their physique, at the cost of undergoing painful cosmetic surgeries. They aspire to a Grail and feel happier afterwards. Besides, it takes courage to inflict so much physical pain on yourself! Obsession with external beauty can cause anxiety if you are not perfect. It can make you unhappy and prevent you from developing wonderful character traits such as intelligence or being fun and interesting.
When I arrived in the United States, I had to acculturate myself to the fact that beauty was a central subject, especially when it concerned a woman. I remember calling my twin sister Kaye to talk to her about this American mania of relating everything to aesthetics (laughs).
In my country of origin, a woman is valued for her intelligence, her sympathy, her sense of humor. Beauty is omnipresent in the United States and it shapes many things in the world. For me, it’s better to be interesting than beautiful. Let’s not desperately try to be like others, we must be ourselves, be authentic. Even when I was a young model, I wasn’t looking to envy others: what mattered to me was gaining exposure, so my plan was to understand why some models were booked more than others in order to be one. A model whose career becomes global is because she exudes something.
Be you, because the others are already taken!
You just mentioned Kaye, your beloved sister. Both have in common that they have very successful children! What is your recipe?
We grew up with entrepreneurial parents, we saw the world through their eyes. Ok, these were not the kind of entrepreneurs that we found in your famous Forbes ranking, but they nonetheless remained driven by the desire to bring projects to fruition even if it meant taking risks. They also conveyed to us the fact of seeking the opinion of their children, it may be relevant. But also to get out of your comfort zone. From early on I wanted my children to take my work into consideration, if you don’t work and it creates resentment in you, it won’t be very pleasant for them. From a very young age, they helped me in my dietetics practice. In my office, Tosca typed letters to doctors, Elon was already very good at explaining word processing functions to us, and Kimbal was also helpful. This early assumption of responsibility was beneficial to them.
I didn’t treat them like babies, they didn’t need to be protected from adult reality. They saw me struggling to pay my bills, to fill the fridge. My children have not been accustomed to luxury and are not dependent on it. It will never be an end in itself for them.
Also, I have always supported my children in their studies and in their careers.
Looking back, I realize that everything they do today has its roots in what they enjoyed as children. I love my three children dearly and am so proud of them! My oldest, Elon, makes electric cars to save the environment and launches rockets. My youngest son, Kimbal, created farm-to-table restaurants. He goes to disadvantaged schools to teach young people how to plant fruits and vegetables. My daughter, Tosca, runs her own entertainment company, which produces and directs romance films based on best-selling novels. They all have different interests.
Your son, Elon Musk, has an incredible fascination for people. Did you foresee such a destiny?
No. As a child, he was very shy and he slept little too, around 3 – 4 hours per night! When I was 12, I noticed that he read everything. But above all, he perfectly absorbed what he read. At that time, we called him «The Encyclopedia» because he had read «The Encyclopaedia Britannica» and memorized the entire thing! I guess today we would call it “the Internet”. In fact, we understood that he was a child prodigy.
Do you believe in the luck factor?
Rather to the little twists of fate which have often smiled on me at unexpected moments. There were complete strangers on my route who were kind to me. And when I think about it, I tell myself that this is the return I didn’t expect from my altruistic actions. Be kind and reach out to people, without expecting anything in return. Believe me, karma will one day pay it back to you when you’re in a bad situation. My book is full of anecdotes like this!
If there were things to do over your life journey, what would you want to change?
If I could turn back time, I wouldn’t waste time thinking that I can change a person to make them better towards me. I will distance myself from evildoers, I will not accept being belittled by people who imagine themselves superior to me.
What else do you want to accomplish?
At this precise moment, I dream of seeing my book become a bestseller! My book “The Lessons of a Life” has been published in around a hundred countries. Today, before we started the interview, I learned that my book was already a bestseller in Vietnam, Turkey, South Africa, China. This fills me with joy!
And what is your next plan?
Write a new book!
