DJ Khaled’s personal sneaker connect is waiting for me in the lobby of the Time Life building, but there’s an issue with him getting past security. Benjamin Kapelushnik, widely known on the Internet as Benjamin Kickz, the high schooler from Miami who takes pictures with piles of sought-after shoes, is only 16 years old and does not have the required identification to enter the office.

Benjamin’s gained quite the reputation online as a reseller, showing off bundles of sneakers, such as the adidas Yeezy Boost, and for rubbing shoulders with A-list celebrities, who are typically years older and often literal shoulders above him. But you wouldn’t know this from meeting him in person. He’s just excited to be in the office of a magazine that he regularly reads.

Like many kids his age, Benjamin’s love for sneakers started young. “I came home one day in fifth grade, and my mom went to the mall and she bought the ‘Galaxy’ LeBrons and Kobes. I didn’t know anything about sneakers,” Benjamin says. “I wore them to school and everyone was going crazy. Then I started gradually liking sneakers more.”

It would be a few years before he got into reselling sneakers, which he’s now become recognized for, and it all started with just one pair. “I did my first campout in seventh grade. I think it was for the Cheech & Chong Nike SB Dunks,” Benjamin says. “I grew a collection of shoes and people would try and buy them off me. I didn’t want to sell them, because I wasn’t into sneakers for business. Then I camped out and got two pairs and sold one, because I got money for my birthday and for Hanukkah, but it started to run out. I thought to myself, ‘If I want to keep buying sneakers, I’m going to figure out a way to get the money.’”