Maye Musk, supermodel, dietitian, and two-time bestselling author, who at 78 is still building her career, not looking back on it.
When Maye Musk took the stage in Hong Kong this autumn, the room was not there to hear a retrospective.
At 78, the international supermodel, registered dietitian, and two-time bestselling author is not looking back on a career, she is still building one. The audiences who came to see her wanted to know how.
But, to start with a clear sample of her character, take into account that Maye had flown in on a 16-hour journey for these events. Yet, rather than rest, she spent her initial time after this long journey signing over 300 copies of her new book for the attendees and VIPs from Prudential Hong Kong and Greater China who had come to meet her the next day. She even took breaks to rest her hand and wrist, and had dinner while she kept working. The day was already running very late, yet she would not leave people without a signed copy.
Across two very different events, one a large main-stage keynote, the other an intimate gathering of Japanese business owners, Musk made the same quietly radical case:
the idea that your best years are behind you by 40, or 50, or any age at all, is a story you can choose not to accept.
In this article, we expand more on her work throughout her keynotes in two recent events in Hong Kong in liaison with Aurum Speakers Bureau.
A main stage built on a simple, radical idea
Maye Musk’s Hong Kong keynote opened as a fireside chat, drawing a full house of nearly 1,000 business leaders.
Musk’s central message, and the thesis of her latest book, Timeless, is that success has no expiration date.
She is living proof of the argument. As she often puts it, she bloomed late: most of what she is known for happened after she turned 50.
Her modeling career moved from catalog work to couture in her sixties. She became the oldest cover model of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue at 74. And she continues to walk runways, publish, and speak to audiences worldwide.
In Hong Kong, where she has developed a genuine following, that message landed with a full house of nearly 1,000 attendees who were leaders used to measuring success in quarters and milestones. The session began as a fireside chat, first with Musk and an interviewer, and later joined by Prudential’s CEO for Greater China.
A full house of nearly 1,000 leaders in Hong Kong, where Musk’s message that success has no expiration date resonated with an audience used to measuring success in quarters.
She spoke about her humble beginnings in South Africa and her family. It is astonishing to hear from a supermodel with such a career that sleeping on the ground in the middle of the Kalahari Desert was not unusual for her. As a child, her family searched for the legendary “Lost City,” an experience that taught her humility and a lasting indifference to luxury.
To this day, she says, when she visits Elon at his companies, she is happy to sleep on a sofa or on the floor with a few blankets just to be near him, and the same is true with her other two children.
Her point was not that age is irrelevant, but that it can be an asset: the perspective, resilience, and clarity that only accumulate over decades are precisely what make later chapters richer, if you keep choosing to grow.
It is a message that places her naturally among the most compelling longevity speakers working today.
An intimate conversation on legacy
At a more intimate gathering, Musk spoke with Japanese business owners about legacy, family, and what it takes to keep getting better with age.
The second event was smaller and more personal: a gathering of Japanese business owners who wanted to talk about legacy. Their questions were specific and searching:
How do you raise children who build remarkable lives?
How do you keep getting better, year after year, instead of coasting or declining?
How do you think about the impact you leave behind?
These are the questions of people at the top of their fields wondering what comes next, and Musk is unusually equipped to answer them.
A room of founders, thinking about succession and family, listening as Musk described raising three remarkable children while building her own careers.
She raised three extraordinarily accomplished children: Elon, who needs little introduction; Kimbal, who built the farm-to-table restaurant group The Kitchen and the drone-show company Nova Sky Stories; and Tosca, the filmmaker and founder of the streaming platform Passionflix. She did so while building parallel careers across three continents, too, and often as a single working mother with little money and no safety net. The closeness runs both ways: after her children built their success, she recounts, they sold a venture for millions and, in return, gave her an apartment.
Her approach, as she described it, was not hovering, but letting her children go after what genuinely interested them with the only real requirement that they pass their grades. The conversation thus ranged across family, reinvention, and the discipline of staying sharp.
This is exactly the kind of substance that makes her a sought-after voice for high-performance audiences, not despite her age, but because of everything her life has taught her.
What makes Musk’s message more than motivational is that she backs it with practice.
The habits behind staying at the top
As she told the audiences, Maye still recertifies in her field as a dietitian every few years, long after fame and circumstance
Maye Musk with Prudential’s leadership and Aurum Speakers Bureau’s co-founder, at the Hong Kong keynote.
ended her day-to-day practice. She does so simply because the discipline of studying and passing the exams keeps her mind sharp.
She also spoke about staying relentlessly curious: following new fields, learning from the technology world (including from her own son) and keeping current with the tools reshaping it.
Her advice to the entrepreneurs in the room was pointed: build a legacy of genuine, positive impact, stay curious, and approach the years after any supposed finish line with excitement rather than resignation.
For an audience of accomplished leaders, it reframed aging from something to manage into something to use.
A career that nearly didn’t get its second act
Decades after an agent dismissed her as too old for the work, Maye Musk commands a main stage in Hong Kong, the living proof behind everything she now tells audiences.
Part of what gives Musk’s optimism its weight is that none of it was guaranteed.
She has spoken candidly about the hard chapters: leaving a difficult marriage, starting over on three continents, and the slights that come with age in image-driven industries.
She has recounted being effectively written off by an agent only to go on to become one of the most recognizable faces in the world in her seventies. That arc, from being dismissed to reaching the peak of her profession decades later, is the lived evidence behind the thesis she now brings to stages.
It is also the story she explores in depth in our feature on Maye Musk, reinvention, and Timeless.
Why her message resonates with leaders now
Musk’s Hong Kong events tapped into a question more executives are asking privately:
What does a meaningful, high-performing second half actually look like?
Maye Musk with Pol Vela, co-founder of Aurum Speakers Bureau, during her Hong Kong events.
As careers lengthen and the idea of a fixed retirement fades, her thesis, that reinvention and growth are available at any age, speaks directly to leaders, founders, and teams rethinking what a lifetime of contribution can be. It is the throughline of her speaking, and of her book Timeless, which explores the same ideas in depth.
For organizations that want to send their people home thinking differently about ambition, aging, and what is still possible, few voices carry both the proof and the warmth that Musk does.
She joins a growing field of longevity speakers that leaders turn to as careers lengthen and the old timelines of ambition fall away, a field we survey in our guide to the world’s top longevity speakers.
In the end, Maye Musk’s Hong Kong events were a reminder that the most compelling voice on the future is sometimes the one with the longest view. Her message, that success and reinvention have no expiration date, is one that leaders everywhere are ready to hear.
To explore bringing her perspective to your stage, start with her profile, and please always feel free to contact Aurum Speakers Bureau to discuss availability.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Maye Musk speak about?
Maye Musk speaks on ageless success, reinvention and resilience, building a lasting legacy, staying curious and sharp over a lifetime, and raising successful children. Drawing on her careers as an international supermodel, registered dietitian, and bestselling author of A Woman Makes a Plan and Timeless, she tailors her message to corporate, leadership, and high-performance audiences around the world.
Why is Maye Musk a sought-after speaker?
Because at 78 she is a living example of her own message, still modeling, publishing, and speaking globally, which gives her rare authority on aging, reinvention, and sustained success. She combines that credibility with genuine warmth and practical advice, making her a standout for events on longevity, resilience, high performance, and women’s leadership.
How do I book Maye Musk to speak at my event?
Maye Musk can be booked through Aurum Speakers Bureau for keynotes and corporate events worldwide. To check her availability and fit, contact Aurum Speakers Bureau and one of our founders will respond within 24 hours.
