> The owners began their businesses with no college degrees and 100 percent grit. > A visit from the TikTok food critic Keith Lee also helped. > Ms. Nieves ha

> The owners began their businesses with no college degrees and 100 percent grit. > A visit from the TikTok food critic Keith Lee also helped. > Ms. Nieves had started attending Fordham University in 2008 on a full scholarship, but her new job as a call center representative for an auto business soon earned her $120,000 a year. She realized that her major — first math, then psychology — was unlikely to quickly get her an equivalent salary, so she dropped out of school. > She stayed in the auto business for about a decade, eventually making $200,000 in a year. > Ms. Nieves, now 34, said. “Starting a coffee shop was a risk I wanted. I’m grateful for my past, but wanted something more fulfilling.” YEAH. If the NYT is trying to reassure the 1% that it's still possible to "make it" in America, with just a HS education and enough hard work, their reality check has already bounced. And what sort of "call center representative for an auto business" earns $120K to $200K, anyway?