["Alina's Place" by Fredrik]
- Noe: My mother, she would actually make
under $8,000 a year.
And if she reached the $8,000, she would actually be happy
that she made that much.
So I would literally go outside my house,
put all my products there, and sell 'em.
I didn't make much.
I made what, 20 bucks a week?
But for a eight-year-old, you're a millionaire
with that kind of money.
- Alex: That's a lot of comic books and stuff, yeah.
- Noe: But the thing was, I wasn't like other kids.
I didn't go buy Pokémon cards.
The little money I made, I gave it to my mom.
The first time, I remember she was cooking,
and I came up to her and I told her,
"Mom, I know you don't have money,
so here's 15 bucks I made."
She turned off the stove.
She turned around, started crying, and hugged me.
From that point on, I just dedicated
on getting money for my family.
- Alex: How did you make that money?
- Noe: First of all, the one thing
that comes to people's mind in the bad neighborhoods is drugs.
But I did not sell drugs.
The reason for that is, first of all, I know it's wrong.
Secondly, I pictured my mom.
How disappointed she'll be if she finds that out.
So I actually started helping at a construction site.
And this was in fifth grade.
It was bad on my bones.
Like, I have bad shoulders, bad knees
from all the stuff I was carrying.
- Alex: When you were younger, did you realize, kind of like,
"Hey, this isn't normal,"
or "This isn't what other people go through."
- Noe: Well, I always knew I was poor.
But I remember one time in particular,
my shoes were all scraped up.
So I got paint and I painted 'em white.
Some kid fell and tripped in front of my shoes
and noticed, and he pointed it out and laughed.
And that's when it hit me really hard.
Like, I'm actually poorer than I thought.
- How's your first semester of college been?
- Things are great.
I just think about it, like, being the first one
to go to college in my whole family of over 50 of us.
That's my biggest motivation.
- I'm really proud of you that you went this far.
And I just want to have you come back in like 10 years
dressed really sharp, you know. - Nice shoes.
- In like a suit, nice shoes.
And finally have a pair of shoes that you haven't painted.
And I want you to get everything you've ever wanted.
["1986" by Fredrik]