Who are you...and why its important...my unknown beginnings

When I was first asked why I do what I do, I thought the answer was simple, "Because Eli!!! that's why." Soon I would find out that it wasn't that simple. I soon realized that everything I had accomplished has stemmed out from a decision that changed my life forever. I never realized how important that decision was at the time that I made it because I felt that it was obvious and normal to whom I was. Little did I know that this decision would determine forever the rest of my life path. It would determine all of the future choices that I would make in my life. The choice between “screw it lets do it” and “no never mind” was so big that, if I would have a chance to do it all over again.....I would Totally do it all exactly the same.....

Born Tuesday October 14^th, 1986 to Eloisa and Mario Solano at Cook county hospital now known as John H. Stroger Hospital. I was raised in the Humboldt park neighborhood and then moved to the Logan Square neighborhood.

Growing up in a Hispanic neighborhood I was led to believe that as a minority I was confined to a downgraded form of education, a lowered standard of living and a capped level of income and wealth status.

In high school I began to realize that “There is no fate but what you create.” Joined the varsity football team since freshman year and was captain of the defense all three years. This taught me that leadership can’t be taught, it must be nurtured into development.

Toward the end of junior year in high school, I was confronted with a situation that changed my life forever. My oldest brother worked with a family friend who owned and operated their own franchised cleaning business. After some time I as well began to work and learn from this family friend. Eventually this family friend decided to venture off to Florida but had no one to manage the business here in Chicago. My brother asked for my father’s financial help. My father agreed to purchase the franchise from our family friend and provided my oldest brother with his very own business.

After some time my father checked in on the business and found out that my brother was pocketing income for his own gain and racking up the franchise bill. My brother had his reasons and I never questioned him. After the confrontation my father and brother had a fall out and my brother left the business in the hands of my father. My father has always held a 9-5 and didn’t know the first thing there was to know about running a successful business. My father tried to maintain as much as he could but to no avail. One night while I was watching TV in the living room, I remember my father sitting in front of the home desktop leaning his head on his right hand scratching his head. I kind of knew what he was thinking about but not completely sure of the details to the dilemma.

I remember my mother walking over to my father and telling him that everything will be ok and that she was sure that it was all going to work out. I then decided to get up and ask my father what seemed to be the problem. As my father began to explain, I began to understand how serious the situation was. My father, who already had his own full time job, was now left to dig the franchise out of the debt that my brother had dug the business into. The question was, How was my father going to operate and manage the business while working at his full time job? Clearly my father needed help.

At that moment I began to think about what were the important things in my life, and the one thing that kept coming back into my mind was Family Security. I simply couldn’t get it out of my head and so I did the only thing that I saw was best and it was to act on it. I stood up and I told my father that I was willing to help him figure this whole thing out. My mother of course gave a look and told me to mind my own business because there was no way that she would ever let me, a high school kid, get involved with “grown folks” business. She became so upset about the idea that she went into the kitchen and began to prepare dinner.

My father stood quiet the entire time and simply waited for my mother to finish her thoughts and what she had to say as she rambled on while walking into the kitchen. At that moment I began to ask my father several questions about the problem and began to offer several pieces to the puzzle in order for everything to make sense and come together. Eventually one idea led to another and what it all came down to was that my father needed the manpower to make it all work out. But not just any kind of man power, my father needed cheap labor in order to be able to make ends meet.

At the end of our conversation, I told my father that if no one else, I would be willing to offer my help. Of course, my father looked at me like it was never going to happen. I simply said. “ok” and went back to watching tv. At that moment my mother announced that dinner was ready. As the three of us sat around the table my father began to talk about how he thought it could all work out. Of course these were all the same ideas that He and I had talked about while my mother was in the kitchen. Eventually my mother asked the obvious question, “So where are you going to find a person to help you out for so cheap?”