Getting to Know: Nicholas Black, SGHS Class of 2009

By K. Coats

Over the years, many similes have been crafted to convey the ups and downs of life. Life is like a football game. Life is like a chess match. Life is like – you guessed it – a box of chocolates. But South Gwinnett High School (SGHS) grad Nicholas Black may have one of the most unique comparisons. For him, Life is like an arcade.

“The way I see it, life is like an arcade,” he explains. “Some of us are given more tokens than others, and some are naturally better at playing different games. Some games require more tokens and some take less. You play with what you got and earn more tokens along the way.” But it goes beyond tokens. According to Black, “Like it or not, we’re all playing for a high score, either to beat someone else’s or our own. Yet at some point, every arcade has its closing time. The lights turn off and each machine gets unplugged. Our high scores are forgotten; we give back all of our tokens. If we’re lucky, we get to leave a little cheat sheet showing the next person how to play the game; then we’re politely asked to leave.”

It can seem strange to see life, in all its complexities, simmered down to an afternoon at the arcade, but Nicholas Black finds it puts everything into perspective. He says, “But the one thing we get to take with us are the memories of how much fun we had playing the different games and the friends we made along the way. So find a game you’re naturally good at, focus on playing the game to the best of your abilities, surround yourself with other players that encourage you to be better, and don’t forget to try other games. You’ll win some and you’ll lose some. But at the end of the day, enjoy the time spent hanging out at the arcade because in the end you can’t take your high scores or your tokens with you. Just remember to have fun!” And if anyone has lived by his own gospel, it would be Nicholas Black.

While he has gone on to do big things, they are a far cry from the big things he had envisioned when he graduated in that spring of 2009. He can laugh about it now when he looks back. “Well, if you asked me during graduation,” he remembers, “I was going to be a millionaire by 23. Ohhh boy. Did that one sting when I closed in on it.” Black’s first stop after graduation was Georgia Gwinnett College, but then an unexpected twist came up in his “arcade game” of life, and he took a risk. He dropped out because of an offer for a government job in tech. “It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I never looked back,” he says. And he would like to take a moment to give a nod to his mother, “…because when I came home saying I was dropping out of college to pursue my dreams,” he explains, “I could only imagine what was going through her mind.”

That job offer would eventually lead Black to his current position as founder of The Credit Captain Academy. “I get to teach Financial Literacy topics using E-Learning coursework I developed,” he explains. “Most of the day to day revolves around answering students’ questions and various marketing activities (Content Writing, Course Updates, Filming, etc.).”

When asked about his proudest accomplishment, Black says, “I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to do so much in such a short span of time. But if I had to pinpoint just one thing, I’d say it was receiving a city proclamation from the city of Atlanta, recognizing November 1st as Millennials Chamber of Commerce day. Looking back on it, my co-founder Raeha Kim and I started with nothing and no idea what we were doing; but we had a vision and a strong work ethic. So yeah, I’d say I’m really proud of that.”

In addition to helping people recover and/or maintain credit, Black

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