A Woman Makes a Plan

"I have long admired Maye Musk as both a model and a woman. She has inspired so many throughout her career, and her invaluable wisdom and insight come to life on each page of this book."
—Karlie Kloss

"Warm, honest and true—A Woman Makes A Plan is full of insight as well as a good dose of humor, offering readers a lifetime of hard-won advice. Maye Musk is a woman In Charge who knows life is full of surprises, and owns it all!”
─Diane Von Furstenberg
 
"Stunning beauty Maye Musk is living proof that a healthy diet is the foundation for a fun vibrant, active, energetic life.”
─Christie Brinkley

Autorentext

Maye Musk

Klappentext

The international supermodel shares personal stories and lessons learned from a life of "living dangerously-carefully"

Maye Musk at seventy-one is a fashionable, charming, jet-setting supermodel and public speaker with a fascinating and tight-knit circle of family and friends. But things were not always so easy or glamorous-she became a single mom at thirty-one years old, struggling through poverty to provide for her three children; dealt with weight issues as a plus-size model and overcame ageism in the modeling industry; and established a lifelong career as a respected dietitian, all the while starting over in eight different cities across three countries and two continents. But she made her way through it all with an indomitable spirit and a no-nonsense attitude to become a global success and an unexpected icon in what she calls the prime of her life.

In A Woman Makes a Plan, Maye shares experiences from her life conveying hard-earned wisdom and frank, practical advice on career, family, health, adventure, and more. You can't control everything that happens, but you can live a happier, healthier, and fun-filled life at any age. All you have to do is make a plan.

A PENGUIN LIFE TITLE

Zusammenfassung
"Warm, honest and true--A Woman Makes A Plan is full of insight as well as a good dose of humor, offering readers a lifetime of hard-won advice."
--Diane Von Furstenberg

The international supermodel shares personal stories and lessons learned from a life of "living dangerously--carefully"

Maye Musk is a fashionable, charming, jet-setting supermodel with a fascinating and tight-knit circle of family and friends--and is 71 years old. But things were not always so easy or glamorous--she became a single mom at 31, struggling through poverty to provide for her three children; dealt with weight issues as a plus-size model and overcame ageism in the modeling industry; and established a lifelong career as a respected dietitian, all the while starting over in eight different cities across three countries and two continents. But she made her way through it all with an indomitable spirit and a no-nonsense attitude to become a global success at what she calls the "prime of her life."

As everyone who follows her obsessively on social media knows, Maye is a fount of frank and practical advice on how the choices you make in every decade can pay off in surprising, exciting ways throughout your life. In A Woman Makes a Plan, Maye shares experiences from her life conveying hard-earned wisdom on career (the harder you work, the luckier you get), family (let the people you love go their own way), health (there is no magic pill), and adventure (make room for discovery, but always be ready for anything). You can't control all that happens in life, but you can have the life you want at any age. All you have to do is make a plan.

Leseprobe

one

 

Silver Is the New Blond

 

Life keeps getting better

 

At fifty-nine years old, I let my hair go silver. Two years later, I was pregnant on the cover of New York magazine. (Well, I wasn't really pregnant, but it looked pretty convincing.) At sixty-seven, I walked in my first runway show at New York Fashion Week with women who were a third of my age. At sixty-nine, I became a CoverGirl.

 

Can you imagine? I never did. I would never have predicted that letting my hair go gray would be the secret to becoming a supermodel. I first walked a runway at fifteen, and they told me I'd be done at eighteen. As a model, I never expected to be carrying on this long-and certainly not in my prime at seventy-one. But here I am, fifty-six years later, and I'm still just getting started.

 

Women don't have to slow down as they age. I'm running like a speeding bullet. Exploring everything, having fun, working more than ever, working on social media to make sure that I'm working more than ever, and having the most fun. Did I mention fun? If men don't have to slow down, we shouldn't have to either. Don't let aging slow you down or stop you from moving ahead. Look after yourself as best you can by eating well, smiling, and being active, happy, and confident. I have never been afraid of aging. Funny enough, when I see the wrinkles on my face-and after sixty, wrinkles on my thighs and my arms-I find them amusing. I'm just so happy to be in good health.

 

 

I started modeling as a teenager in Pretoria, South Africa, because a friend of my parentsÕ ran a modeling school and agency. Her name was Lettie, and her husband had a plane, like my father. Every Sunday night, they would have dinner with our family. Lettie was very beautiful and graceful, and she had a quiet confidence that made you want to do what she asked you to.

 

When my twin sister, Kaye and I were fifteen, Lettie invited us to do her modeling course for free, which we did without giving it much thought. For the final walk, the one that would get us our diplomas, I made myself a pink suit in the style of Chanel. I had my brown hair done, and I did my own makeup.

 

Lettie was the one who started hiring me to model, too. I would do runway shows on Saturday mornings in a department store when she asked, or print jobs. I didn't feel special or privileged about being a model. It was just a job. It was better-paying than other jobs, which was nice, but when I found that out, it surprised me. You went somewhere, you put on a dress, you walked around the room, you went home. Why would that be well-paid? But it was, especially for a girl my age.

 

I had no idea back then that I would still be a model at seventy-one. You just had to look around the room at these things to understand that all the models were very young. I knew it was temporary, and it didn't bother me at all. I was just happy to get paid. My goal wasn't to model; it was to go to university.

 

I still modeled in university, to my surprise. As planned, I got my degree, and then I got married: another surprise. My goal wasn't to have children so quickly either. I didn't realize I could fall pregnant on a honeymoon and have three kids in three years. Elon, Kimbal, and Tosca were three more surprises. With each child, I added a few blond highlights to my hair. After Tosca, I was completely blond.

 

I started modeling again after I'd had my three kids, because Lettie asked me to. Her agency needed somebody to do mother-of-the-bride runway shows, and they couldn't have an eighteen-year-old do it. All the other girls were too young. So she asked me, because I was a very grown-up twenty-eight. In this way, I became the oldest model in South Africa.

 

 

I moved to Durban as a single mother at thirty-one because I was running away from my husband. I couldnÕt afford to have anybody else color my hair anymore, so I started doing it myself and it became various shades of blond and orange. Blorange, as they call it. It was pretty bad. Very frizzy, and I was cutting it myself to save money. They still let me model for some reason, so I didnÕt worry about it. It didnÕt affect my nutrition pra…