Maye Musk: A Mother of Heroes, a Hero to Them Too

On June 29, Tesla, which celebrated its 10th anniversary of listing, had a market value of over $200 billion, becoming the world's most valuable automaker. Musk also ranked 31st on the Forbes Global Rich List with a net worth of $24.6 billion. His success is inseparable from the training and influence of his mother, Maye Musk. What kind of legendary woman is Maye Musk? How did she train Musk?

Over the years, Musk, the "Iron Man of Silicon Valley", has almost become a walking hot spot.

Rocket building, Mars immigration, Starlink project, brain-computer interface... Behind such a crazy and extraordinary Musk, there is one person who is inseparable from the influence of his mother, Maye Musk. At every important node in Musk's life, Maye has given great support and companionship.

The prerequisite for cultivating heroes: Become a hero yourself

In 1948, a little girl was born in South Africa to a family of Canadian pilots and was named Maye. Her parents often took them flying around in airplanes, and the blood of adventure was woven into Maye's soul from the beginning.

Mayer, a model, married Errol Musk, a pilot, sailor and engineer, a high school classmate who also loved adventure, at the age of 21, at the prime of her career.

In the three years after her marriage, Maye gave birth to three children in succession - the eldest son Elon Musk, the second son Kimbal Musk and the youngest daughter Tosca Musk.

Musk has said in many interviews: "The highest form of maternal love is to give children freedom, and my mother did a very good job in this regard."

After understanding the growth process of the three brothers and sisters, you will find that the motherly love Mayer gave them was not just freedom.

  Becoming a mother for the first time: independence and hard work 

In 1979, Musk was 8 years old and Mayer was 31 years old.

This year, the three siblings began to work and learn to be independent.

Unable to bear the domestic violence at the time, Mayer divorced her husband, and from then on began her difficult life as a single mother.

After the divorce, Mayer moved to a new city with her children where she was unfamiliar with the place and started everything from scratch.

She regards taking good care of the children as one of her most important goals, but she does not overprotect them because they lack fatherly love.Instead, they are treated like adults, required to learn to be independent and start working at an early age.

Since her three children were still young at the time, she couldn't go out to work, so she turned her bedroom into an office.

So, when she works from home, she lets her kids help her run her nutrition consulting business.For example, she asked Musk to help her with things on the word processor, while her daughter Tosca answered consultation calls and wrote letters to doctors.

She also requires her children to work hard enough.

Most children grow up with an allowance, or their parents help scrape together the money to buy the toys or books their children want.

But Mayer didn't do that. She never gave her children pocket money, but let them think hard and work for what they wanted.

"The harder you work, the luckier you get" is her father's motto, and she also believes that "the harder you work and the better you do, the luckier you get."

  Facing adolescent children: respect their interests and give them freedom 

In 1983, Musk was 12 years old and Mayer was 35 years old.

This year, Musk got his first computer.

Musk showed a talent for engineering from a young age, which, according to him, he inherited from his engineer father.

When personal computers first came out, the 11-year-old Musk showed great interest in them and insisted on taking classes.

So, when Musk was 12, Mayer saved up and bought him a computer.

Musk was so fond of the computer that he soon taught himself programming and wrote a game called "Blastar". Mayer showed the game to several computer science college students, and everyone was shocked.

So Mayer encouraged Musk to send the game to a computer magazine "PC Magazine", and Musk eventually earned $500.Musk was only 13 years old when the game was released.

  Young people grow up: unconditional support 

In 1988, Musk was 17 and Mayer was 40.

This year, Musk wanted to move to Canada.

He hopes to obtain Canadian citizenship through his Canadian mother, because he has always had an American dream, and Canadian citizens can more easily immigrate to the United States.

Before this, he had tried many times to persuade his father to move to the United States, but was always severely reprimanded by his father, who thought his idea was unrealistic.

But Mayer's attitude was completely the opposite.After Musk went to Canada alone, Mayer found a way to bring Musk's younger brothers and sisters to Canada to reunite with him.

In fact, Mayer's career in South Africa was booming at the time, and she was often invited to be a guest speaker at nutrition events. Once she went to Canada, it meant that she had to start all over again.  But she still chose to go to Canada without hesitation.

After reuniting with his family, Musk had a strong backing and began to boldly pursue whatever he wanted to do.

For example, when he and Kimball were reading newspapers and found interesting people, they would try to meet them, including Peter Nicholson, an executive at Peter Bank in Nova Scotia, Canada.

After studying at Queen's University for two years, Musk transferred to the University of Pennsylvania in the United States, finally arriving in the United States, his long-dreamed-of destination.

After graduating from college, Musk couldn't wait to start a business with his brother.Musk had applied for a PhD in applied physics at Stanford University, but he decided to start a business after studying for two days. Everyone opposed it at the time, but Mayer was the only one who supported him again and believed that he would succeed.

In 1995, Musk and Kimball founded their first company, Zip2, with start-up capital from Mayer.Musk later made his first fortune from this company.

At the time, Mayer was still in Canada, with $2,000 left over from her monthly salary, so she visited her son every six weeks, helping the brothers with photocopying and grocery expenses, and supporting the company through the difficult initial stage.

Mayer said in an interview: "They (the children) have to make their own decisions and be responsible for their own lives. Even if they change their minds, it doesn't matter. As long as their work benefits others and our planet and the universe, I will support it."

  accompany,Understanding and encouragement throughout 

For decades, Meyer has been with children as a friend.

When Musk was a child, he was short and very introverted. He was considered a nerd. Mayer even suspected that he had a hearing impairment.

But after careful observation,Mayer soon discovered that Musk was quiet because he was always thinking, which was a big difference between him and other children.

Because of this character, Musk was often bullied by his classmates at school.Meyer always comforted him thoughtfully to prevent him from suffering any psychological trauma.

Meyer said she never condemned her children for making unusual decisions and she allowed them to take risks.

Mayer was not angry at all when 15-year-old Tosca sold the house, furniture and car while Mayer was away, because she felt that Tosca had a point, and they had discussed moving to Canada eventually, and Tosca just wanted to speed up the process.

Kimball changed careers several times before opening the restaurant, but Meyer never criticized or made suggestions. When Kimball's restaurant opened, she personally helped polish the old stove and refrigerator to a shine.

Today, Kimball owns a chain of restaurants that focus on healthy ingredients and has founded a nonprofit organization that teaches children to grow vegetables.

Tosca has artistic talent and has loved literature and film and television works since she was a child. Mayer accompanied her to watch many movies.

When Tosca grew up, he founded a film company, Passionflix, and served as a producer and director himself. He specialized in producing and directing romantic films adapted from best-selling novels, and his works have received good reputations.

At that time, if all three children went to the University of Toronto where Mayer worked to study law or medicine, they would not have to pay tuition.

But Mayer did not ask them to do so. She never interfered with her children's interests, but gave them the greatest freedom and encouraged them to follow their passions.

After her children's careers were gradually getting on track, Mayer, 50, moved to Manhattan, New York, by herself. She said the fast pace there suited her very well.

But even though they are not in the same city, she is never absent from the important moments in her children's lives.

Whether it is a new car launch, a rocket launch, or an important festival, she will go to the scene to reunite with her children. She said, "Traveling on a whim is commonplace for our family."

Today, Mayer is very proud of her children: "Each of them has a successful career, and all of them are based on their childhood passions.Children will show their own interests at a very young age, and what we need to do is to encourage, help and support them."

A hardcore mom who loves learning and technology

Last year, Mayer published her autobiography, A Woman Makes A Plan. The simplified Chinese version of the book, My Life by Me, was also recently published. At the end of My Life by Me,Mayer also specifically expressed his gratitude to technology.

She said that she has always benefited from technology in her life. When she was a nutritionist, Musk and Kimball built a website for her. She was probably the first nutritionist to have a website at that time. Later, technology also brought great help to the careers of her three children.

She likes the Internet, likes to keep learning and accepting new things, and recently she opened a Douyin and Weibo account. In her Douyin videos, she has a strong aura, but also confident, elegant and lively.

It is precisely because of this open mind that she has become such an avant-garde and cool hot mom, and also the technological genius Musk.

Musk once said, "My mother is my hero, and a large part of my achievements come from her support." If Musk's wild ideas had been strangled in the cradle, the story would have been completely different.

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