Tesla and SpaceX creator Elon Musk may be a famous name today; however, he’s not the only one who has succeeded Musk. For over 50 years, Elon’s mom Maye Musk has created an extensive career as a model, nutritionist, and speaker.
While she’s not planning to conquer Mars or construct complex underground tunnels, Maye Musk has appeared on numerous cover covers, including Time Health. Last year, she was named CoverGirl’s longest-running spokesmodel.
Here’s a look at the amazing lifestyle of Maye Musk.
Maye Musk’s Humble Origins and Early Career
Maye Musk was born in 1948 in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. It was her twin and was one of the five kids. When she was a child, her family relocated away from Canada to South Africa, where her parents instilled a love of excitement in her.
In 1952, when Musk was just four years young, she and her parents flew her family 22,000 miles around the globe in an aircraft that her father had brought pieces of Canada, according to The New York Times. Additionally, during her childhood, she and her family frequently explored the Kalahari Desert, searching for its legend of the ‘Lost City..’ They traced the footsteps of Canadian adventurer William Leonard Hunt (alias Guillermo Farini), who claimed to have discovered the remains of an ancient city as he traversed this treacherous desert in 1885. Numerous expeditions over the next century were attempted without success to locate the lost civilization.
When she was 12 years old, Musk and her twin sister Kaye were receptionists at their father’s chiropractic clinic during school and after. When she was 15, she changed to a different career and began her journey in fashion. Her career was booming in the 1960s, with advertisements for cosmetic companies and brands like Colgate. The beauty contests she won were in her town, and she was an official finalist in the 1969 Miss South Africa competition.
She was married in the year 1970. was married to Errol Musk, who was an engineer from South African engineer she met in high school. In the 1970s, they had three children – Elon, Kimbal, and Tosca and divorced nine years after.
In 1979 Musk switched gears. She began her dietician business by cold-calling doctors and sitting in waiting areas for hours to secure appointments or get new clients. The determination paid off, and when she finally established her business, she would often mix clients who were nutritionists with a variety of fashion shoots.
She has operated her own nutrition company for over 45 years and has been speaking and providing advice as a global health specialist. She has two master’s degrees in dietetics – one at the University of the Orange Free State in South Africa and one in nutrition research at The University of Toronto.
Raising the Musk Kids
Success is part of its part of the Musk family. Mom of “genius boy” Elon emphasizes that her children can be described as “brilliant.” Today, Maye’s son Kimbal is the co-founder and founder of The Kitchen, a family of eateries that source their fresh produce directly from local farmers and Big Green. This complimentary charity develops gardens at schools. Musk’s daughter, and the youngest of her children, Tosca, is an award-winning film and television producer in Los Angeles.
After High School, Elon chose to leave South Africa and attended Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. The year 1989 was when Musk and her family followed the same path in moving out of Johannesburg and to Toronto, as per Business Insider. As she raised her three children as a single parent living in a modest, rent-controlled house in Toronto, Musk worked five jobs at a time to provide for the family and pay the bills. It included modeling and working as a research officer at Toronto’s University of Toronto so that her children could attend the school at no cost.
Back in the Spotlight
Although Elon’s net worth can be estimated as $22 billion, the value of Maye’s isn’t known, but she has increased her earnings over the last few years.
