“The American Dream is free but the hustle is sold separately.”

Carmen Garner knew little about dreams early on in life, but a lot about hustle. The Washington DC teacher grew up in a way that is truly hard to imagine.

“My grandmother had 13 kids. 9 of the 13 kids were heavily into the street life and drugs.” Including his own mother.

Before Garner was 10 years old, he visited both his mother and father in prison, frequently witnessed drug deals and drug use, and bounced around from foster homes to various family members.

Garner says he realized by age 11, he was pretty much on his own.  His mother later died of HIV.