About

Mom How Did We Get So Rich? is a series of memes using an image of influencer Elina Salyakhova eating with her children, all of whom are dressed in nice clothes, the image giving off a perceived air of wealth. The image was posted online in late 2021 and began inspiring memes as early as April 2024 on sites including TikTok, Reddit and X. The memes use a phrasal template that begins with, "Mom, how did we get so rich?" followed by a quote attributed to Salyakhova joking or making a statement about how they earned their wealth, with some of the earliest examples being grindset culture memes following Salyakhova's quote with versions of the caption, "Because your dad never gave up," over images associated with hard work. As the meme became more prevalent in June 2025, punchlines started regularly referencing crypto and AI.

Origin

On December 31st, 2021, Instagram^[1] user elina.salyakhova posted a collection of photos of herself and her children eating. In the first photo, Salyakhova is seen smiling. The post gained over 84,000 likes in four years.

It is unclear exactly when the image was first used as a meme. On April 30th, 2024, TikToker^[2] @impact.infinity posted a meme using one of the images captioned, "2035: Mom why is our family so rich?" then transitions to images related to being a hardworking person under the caption, "Because dad never gave up," garnering around 2,900 views in a year. This is the earliest known example of the meme.

Spread

The meme continued to spread over the following months in 2024, including to other social media platforms such as Instagram.

For example, on May 7th, 2024, Instagram^[3] user martinangelttv posted a video in which he reacts to a version of the meme, calling it "corny," garnering over 145,000 likes in a year.

On May 9th, TikToker^[4] @it.girl446 posted a similar meme using another image of Salyakhova and her family, this time ending, "because mom and dad never gave up," garnering over 187,000 views in a year.

On July 17th, TikToker^[5] @egoistic_baby6432 posted a very similar version of the meme that gained over 1.1 million views in a year.

On October 15th, 2024, Redditor u/Ok_Source4689 made a now-removed post to the /r/cryptocurrencymemes^[6] subreddit sharing the image of Salyakhova under the caption, “'Mom, why is our family rich?' 'Because dad held ethereum until your grandpa passed away and left him $10M,'" garnering over 310 upvotes in eight months.

On April 24th, 2025, X^[7] user @TurnerNovak posted the image, captioned, "Your dad built a ChatGPT wrapper when everyone thought they were just commodities," garnering over 1,100 likes in two months.

On April 29th, X^[8] user @veggie_eric posted a version with the punchline, "Dad dropped Grok 3.5," garnering over 1,700 likes in the same span of time.

On June 9th, 2025, X^[9] user @parody_ceo posted a version of the meme with the punchline, "Your father said 'thanks, nothing from my end' on thousands of important Zoom meetings," garnering over 178,000 likes in three weeks.

On June 30th, X^[10] user @tunguz posted a version reading, "Your dad kept getting poached back and forth by the top AI labs without actually doing any work," garnering over 4,900 likes in under a day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References