“I said, ‘I don’t wanna be the dumb blond, I’m going to study sciences, and I’m gonna pass it. Even if it’s in another language.’ And I did.”
Maye Musk to Forbes, 2018
The internet is always flooded with stories about the richest men or women in the world, and how they reached their epitome of success but hardly about the people who act as the steps for the ladder these successful people climb. The world’s richest man, Elon Musk did not have a smooth childhood growing up and had to battle a lot of hardships to reach to the top and the person who is his driving force is his mother, Maye Musk.
Maye Haldeman was born as a twin and one of five children on April 19, 1948, in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. In 1950, her family relocated to Pretoria, South Africa. Hailing from a business family, she began working at the age of 8. Maye began working as a receptionist for her father before and after school when she was 12 years old. “We would do their monthly bulletins and photocopy newsletters, and then put the stamps on the envelopes.” Maye told Forbes.
Maye received her master’s degree in dietetics from South Africa’s University of the Orange Free State. Her major was taught in Afrikaans, one of Musk’s four languages according to Forbes. She went on to receive another master’s degree in nutritional science from the University of Toronto.
According to New York Times report, she was a finalist in the 1969 Miss South Africa beauty pageant as a young woman. She married Errol Musk, a South African engineer she met in high school, in 1970. Elon Musk, Kimbal Musk, and Tosca Musk are their three children.
Musk and her husband divorced in 1979. The 31-year-old single mother built her dietician practice by contacting doctors and waiting for them for hours, hoping they would meet with her and refer her clients. Musk also went across South Africa holding runway and print shows.
Maye Musk is a boss! In her exclusive with Forbes, she said how she was juggling five jobs, “I was a research officer at the University of Toronto. I was teaching two nights a week at a nutrition college and two night weeks at a modeling agency. I modeled and I gave talks, and I had a private practice.”
Musk signed a contract with IMG according to Forbes and has been featured on magazines all over the world. She was designated a Covergirl face in November 2017 after appearing in the Simply Ageless campaign.
Her modelling career continues in Canada and America. She has appeared on Special K cereal boxes, Revlon advertisements, and in a Beyoncé music video, “Haunted”.
The fearless Maye was featured in a nude photoshoot on the cover of TIMES Magazine. She appeared on the cover of Elle Canada in 2012 and in commercials for Target and Virgin America.
Maye Musk made heads turn during The Blonds’ performance with her silver-and-electric blue jumpsuit; she also wore a custom Prabal Gurung dress in the front row with Kimora Lee Simmons. Her fashion and styling has been praised by fashion experts from all around the world.
Maye Musk in unstoppable, she is not just the mother of Elon Musk but has carved a niche for herself even before her son took over the world as a tech genius. According to CA Knowledge, the 75-year-old wonder woman has a net worth of $45 million.
