At 74 years old, Maye Musk is as successful as the billionaire son of technology Elon Musk, 50, but in the world of fashion and social networks. She is an influencer and model hired by IMG Models, the agency representing Hailey Bieber and übermodel Gisele Bündchen.
On social media, Maye often gives health tips, exercises and talks about her routine as a model on social media. She has 564k followers on Instagram, over 69k on TikTok and over 504k on Twitter.
Maye, who was born in Canada, started modeling at age 15 in South Africa. But it was after 60 that her career took off and at 70 she won the title of supermodel. A stylish grandmother with 12 grandchildren, she believes that turning her hair gray has helped her career.
In recent years, Maye has walked the runway at major fashion weeks, appeared on the covers of magazines such as New York Magazine, Elle and Vogue, and has become an ambassador for an American cosmetics brand. “I’ve never worked as hard in the last 50 years as I did in 2017,” she said in an interview with the BBC in 2018.
She, who is a nutritionist, says that extra care is needed with food to keep the model mannequin. “I need to plan all my meals and snacks, otherwise the train goes off the rails and I gain weight. Then it takes two weeks of a strict diet to lose. I wear a size 38, I’m not that thin”, she says.
In addition to being a model and tiktoker, Elon’s mother is a nutrition speaker – she has two master’s degrees in the field – and author of the best-selling “Advice for a lifetime of adventure, beauty, and success” (“A woman makes a plan: advice for a lifetime of adventure, beauty and success”), released in over 100 countries.
May also talks about entrepreneurship, aging, gender equality, single parents, overcoming challenges, trust and health, and is an ambassador for an NGO that builds gardens in underserved schools.
Debra Bourne, director of All Walks Beyond the Catwalk, which promotes diversity in fashion — age, size, ethnicity — attributes much of the success of an older woman in the modeling business to social media, like Maye.
“With the growth of social media on platforms like Instagram, we’ve seen successful examples of older models who have gained a huge audience,” says Bourne, who is also a psychotherapist and formerly a fashion editor.
I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
