Maye Musk may be best known as the mother of Elon Musk, the world's richest person. But at 78, she has also built a career of her own as a dietitian, model, author, and public speaker.
In her latest memoir, "Timeless," released September 15, Musk looks back on her childhood, divorce, and years as a working single mother of three, as well as the career breakthroughs she found later in life.
Here are three lessons from the book on getting older, beauty standards, and why Musk sees no reason to slow down.
Some of life's best chapters can come later
In the memoir, Musk wrote that she admired people who thrived from a very young age, and considered herself a late bloomer.
"Maybe that's an understatement. I bloomed so late that most of the things I'm known for didn't happen until after I turned fifty," she wrote.
Musk wrote that she didn't walk runways in New York, Paris, or Milan until after 50, and her Times Square billboards came when "most people my age were considering retirement."
Her later years brought a string of new opportunities.
In 2017, Musk became CoverGirl's oldest spokesperson at 69. Two years later, at 71, she published her first memoir, "A Woman Makes a Plan: Advice for a Lifetime of Adventure, Beauty, and Success."
"And at seventy-four — white hair, wrinkles, life experience, and all —I became the oldest cover model in Sports Illustrated history. I still smile thinking about it," Musk wrote. She held this title until Martha Stewart made the cover at 81 the following year.
Aging isn't something to conceal
Musk wrote in her memoir that she stopped bleaching her hair when she was nearing 60, after feeling down. As her white roots grew in, she cut her hair short and found she loved the new look.
Her agent, however, was not impressed. When she saw Musk's new hair and photos, she warned that she would "never work again," Musk wrote.
Instead, Musk realized her contract allowed her to send her new photos to agencies outside New York City. Fifteen signed her and booked her for work across Europe and the US. She also caught the eye of a Time magazine casting director, who noticed Musk walking her dog every morning, leading to a photo feature inside the magazine.
Elsewhere in the memoir, Musk recounts her initial hesitation over appearing in Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue, because her agents had long told her she did not have a "swimsuit body."
"Even at my smallest, my bottom never did that thing the magazines usually look for in a swimsuit model — smoothly transitioned into my thigh without a fold — and it certainly didn't do that now," she wrote.
She worried about showing her wrinkles and cellulite, but her daughter encouraged her to do it, so she reconsidered.
"What was I so afraid of? Men never worry about their wrinkles; they add gravitas. Overweight men still walk proudly in their little speedos. Women gain five pounds and we hide behind our towels. All those years of indoctrination from agents and the industry — it was time to throw all that nonsense out," Musk wrote. "I would walk proudly and show the world how happy and healthy I was in my swimsuit, and my seventy-plus-year-old body."
There's no deadline for meaningful work
Musk's work as a dietitian has remained important to her, too. In the memoir, she wrote that her alma mater, the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa, awarded her an honorary doctorate in dietetics in 2023.
Although she no longer practices, Musk has continued to keep up with nutrition research.
"Once a dietitian, always a dietitian. I'm even still registered. Every five years, I pass seventy-five exams to keep my accreditation current. It takes some time, but I enjoy staying up-to-date on nutritional science research," Musk wrote.
Reflecting on aging, Musk wrote that she has come to see it as an expansion of possibility, not a narrowing of it.
"Reinvention isn't reserved for the young; it's reserved for the brave. And courage can arrive late and still change your life," Musk wrote.
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Amanda is a senior lifestyle reporter at Business Insider's Singapore bureau.Her reporting explores how people navigate major life transitions, including career changes, relocation, and retirement, with a particular focus on the experiences of those living in Asia. She also writes about travel, culture, wellness, and relationships.In 2025, she won the Singapore Press Club's Rising Stars Young Digital Journalist Award.She previously worked as a writer and video producer at a content marketing agency in Singapore. She graduated from the University at Buffalo with a BA (Hons) in Sociology.
