So Money with Farnoosh Torabi · Monday, September 7, 2026
Maria Melchor recounts her childhood growing up undocumented in a predominantly middle-class suburb, where she observed classmates with cars while her family relied on food banks. This experience shaped her understanding of money as representing access and a comfortable lifestyle.
“You talk about your personal childhood you grew up undocumented, watching your parents combine everything from cash to government benefits, food bank boxes to put dinner on the table.”
“It was when I came here and I saw that people could have more, not just like have more than I did, but also, oh my gosh, in America, people like have bigger houses, cars, lots of belongings, uh, books for fun, not just textbooks.”
“Uh, see all of that is like what started making me think about money in like a way of like, oh, money means access, money means like having a comfortable lifestyle.”