Demo shares how socioeconomic status has impacted his academic endeavours and dreams. Demo (Dee-mo) Kaltabanis is a fourth-year nursing and premedical student at Western University. Being a first-generation student living in poverty and having a strong ambition to become a family medicine physician, Demo continues to face many difficulties along his path toward medical school. The impact socioeconomic status plays on his life, and the resiliency he has developed to handle it is an experience he is incredibly passionate about and wants to share with the world. Through TedxWesternU, he hopes to motivate adolescents in similar situations and debunk the myth that poverty defines them as less capable individuals. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx