About
Mother How Did We Get So Wealthy? is a sequence of memes utilizing a picture of influencer Elina Salyakhova consuming together with her kids, all of whom are wearing good garments, the picture giving off a perceived air of wealth. The picture was posted on-line in late 2021 and commenced inspiring memes as early as April 2024 on websites together with TikTok, Reddit and X. The memes use a phrasal template that begins with, “Mother, how did we get so wealthy?” adopted by a quote attributed to Salyakhova joking or making an announcement about how they earned their wealth, with a few of the earliest examples being grindset tradition memes following Salyakhova’s quote with variations of the caption, “As a result of your dad by no means gave up,” over photographs related to arduous work. Because the meme turned extra prevalent in June 2025, punchlines began repeatedly referencing crypto and AI.
Origin
On December thirty first, 2021, Instagram person elina.salyakhova posted a set of photographs of herself and her kids consuming. Within the first photograph, Salyakhova is seen smiling. The publish gained over 84,000 likes in 4 years.
It’s unclear precisely when the picture was first used as a meme. On April thirtieth, 2024, TikToker @affect.infinity posted a meme utilizing one of many photographs captioned, “2035: Mother why is our household so wealthy?” then transitions to pictures associated to being a hardworking particular person underneath the caption, “As a result of dad by no means gave up,” garnering round 2,900 views in a yr. That is the earliest recognized instance of the meme.
@affect.infinity Why we’re…. – #wealthy #cash #wifimoney ♬ unique sound – affect.infinity
Unfold
The meme continued to unfold over the next months in 2024, together with to different social media platforms reminiscent of Instagram.
For instance, on Might seventh, 2024, Instagram person martinangelttv posted a video during which he reacts to a model of the meme, calling it “corny,” garnering over 145,000 likes in a yr.
On Might ninth, TikToker @it.girl446 posted an identical meme utilizing one other picture of Salyakhova and her household, this time ending, “as a result of mother and pop by no means gave up,” garnering over 187,000 views in a yr.
On July seventeenth, TikToker @egoistic_baby6432 posted a really related model of the meme that gained over 1.1 million views in a yr.
On October fifteenth, 2024, Redditor u/Ok_Source4689 made a now-removed publish to the /r/cryptocurrencymemes subreddit sharing the picture of Salyakhova underneath the caption, “’Mother, why is our household wealthy?’ ‘As a result of dad held ethereum till your grandpa handed away and left him $10M,'” garnering over 310 upvotes in eight months.
On April twenty fourth, 2025, X person @TurnerNovak posted the picture, captioned, “Your dad constructed a ChatGPT wrapper when everybody thought they had been simply commodities,” garnering over 1,100 likes in two months.
On April twenty ninth, X person @veggie_eric posted a model with the punchline, “Dad dropped Grok 3.5,” garnering over 1,700 likes in the identical span of time.
On June ninth, 2025, X person @parody_ceo posted a model of the meme with the punchline, “Your father mentioned ‘thanks, nothing from my finish’ on hundreds of essential Zoom conferences,” garnering over 178,000 likes in three weeks.
On June thirtieth, X person @tunguz posted a model studying, “Your dad saved getting poached forwards and backwards by the highest AI labs with out truly doing any work,” garnering over 4,900 likes in underneath a day.
Numerous Examples
