How does one of the highest-paid skateboarders in the world spend his earnings? On new sets of wheels, of course.
Professional skateboarder Nyjah Huston, 28, started with a "humble, simple upbringing" growing up in a strict Rastafarian household as the middle of five children. So when he began earning a few hundred dollars from his first sponsor, the streetwear brand Element Skateboards, at 7 years old, "I didn't even care about making money at the time," he tells CNBC Make It. "All I cared about was skating and getting better at skating."
But in the last two decades, his winnings and sponsorship checks have gotten much bigger. He began winning contests with $5,000 to $10,000 prizes by the time he was 10, and at age 15 won his first professional contest. Along with it came a six-figure check.
"It was the first-ever Street League, and that one was for $150,000," Huston says. "I was just getting my license around that time, so I bought my first car — a Mercedes. I was juiced."
Since then, Huston says the No. 1 thing he splurges on is cars: "I love cars, always have since I was a little kid."
He kept the Mercedes for a few years before selling it for another, and within a few years upped the ante even more.
"I really splurged and I bought a Lamborghini when I was like 19," Huston says. "The Lambo was around like $300,000. So yeah, that was probably the most expensive thing ever."
"Around that time, I was making a lot of money off of contests, so I think I deserved it," he says, adding that looking back, he feels the splurge was "definitely worth it. It was a good time. I was young. I was making good money and trying to live it up."
Today, Huston is among the highest-paid skateboarders in the world with sponsorship deals with NikeSB and Monster. The six-time world champion and 13-time X Games gold medalist will head to Paris next summer to represent Team USA in the 2024 Olympics, just the second games to include skateboarding as a sport.
Watch the Paris Olympics next summer on NBC and Peacock.
Disclosure: CNBC parent NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics is the U.S. broadcast rights holder to all Summer and Winter Games through 2032.
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