I didn’t grow up around wealth. In my house, money was grown folk business. You didn’t ask. You didn’t talk about it. You just hoped there was enough.

It wasn’t until college that I realized — we weren’t middle class. We were surviving. My mom did what she could. Before every semester, we’d hit Sam’s Club. She’d load me up on food and supplies.

I had so much, I started selling ramen noodles. Because even then, I didn’t like it. But hustle? Hustle, I understood.

What I didn’t understand...
was strategy.

Then came credit.

On-campus credit card offers were everywhere. And like a lot of us, I took them. Used them. Maxed them. Ignored the bills.

And when the debt started stacking, I shrugged: "Put it on my credit, I don’t care."

Because I didn’t know better.