MACON, Ga. — As students in Central Georgia prepare to walk across the stage and into the next chapter of their lives, we want to shine a spotlight on some of them.
Meet Mount de Sales Academy grad Noah Silver.
"I ran a soap and candle business through TikTok and somehow I managed to get a lot of followers through that, so I kind of learned the ways of it," said Silver.
At 13-years-old, he started a business called Silver Soaps.
"Ultimately it really just takes a lot of confidence, because in the end you're spending a lot of money everyday. You're making a lot of decisions that are big and scary and you don't 100% know if they're going to be successful," he said.
He's 18 now and a graduate of Mount de Sales Academy. Soon, he'll study business at Mercer University, but it's a subject he already understands pretty well.
"As I teenager, I feel like I know what teenagers want when it comes to records. I also know what most people in general want. I have a pretty good idea on that," he said.
Silver creates videos dedicated to vinyl records and posts them on TikTok. He's gained more than 90,000 followers and his presence there will soon help him launch his first store front: Vertigo Vinyl in Mercer Village.
"I've been surrounded around music my whole life. My mother was a poet and my dad is a musician, and they both taught English at Mercer," he said.
His parents passed down their love of music to him. Now, he has a collection of more than 5,000 used vinyl records from the 70s, 80s and 90s across a variety of genres.
"I think that it's really important to familiarize yourself with all different kinds of music throughout all these different time periods," he said.
And his advice to others who might want to start their own business?
"It's all about marketing. You really need to get a handle on that marketing, and it really grows from there," he said.
Silver says he'll also sell vintage clothing at Vertigo Vinyl. The store opens June 10 at noon.