In a world captivated by Elon Musk’s relentless ambition, it’s easy to overlook the woman who first saw the spark of brilliance in him: his mother, Maye Musk. Long before Tesla’s electric hum or SpaceX’s rockets pierced the sky, Maye sensed something extraordinary in her son. She once recalled a moment when Elon, barely a toddler, tinkered with toys in ways that baffled her—his tiny hands assembling, deconstructing, and dreaming beyond the ordinary. “I knew he was a genius at three,” she’d later confess, her voice tinged with a mother’s pride and a visionary’s certainty. It wasn’t just maternal instinct; it was a prophecy she’d stake her life on, pouring her savings into his first venture, Zip2, when the world still doubted him.

Maye Musk isn’t just a footnote in her son’s story—she’s a force of nature in her own right. A silver-haired icon who shattered modeling norms at 69 as CoverGirl’s oldest ambassador, she’s walked runways and graced magazine covers with a grace that defies time. But her influence runs deeper than glamour. When Elon was 12, she watched him code a video game, *Blastar*, and sell it for $500—a feat that stunned university engineers. “He knew all the shortcuts,” she marveled, urging him to submit it to a magazine. That moment wasn’t just about a paycheck; it was a glimpse into a mind that would one day reshape industries. Maye didn’t just raise a billionaire; she nurtured a revolution, teaching him resilience through her own struggles as a single mother in a new country.

Today, as Elon steers humanity toward Mars and redefines transportation, Maye’s voice still echoes in his journey. She’s his fiercest defender, dismissing labels like “wealthy” as insults to his true calling: a genius bent on saving the species. On a recent TV appearance, she argued passionately that people should have kids despite financial fears, echoing Elon’s own obsession with population growth. “We didn’t go out for dinner or movies,” she said, recalling their modest beginnings, “but we had each other.” It’s a reminder that behind the world’s richest man stands a mother who told him—and the world—that limits are just illusions waiting to be broken.