Financial Services Professional & Financial Literacy Advocate

Gerald Campbell is an NFEC Certified Financial Education Instructor, Adjunct Professor and CEO of Nova Sound hailing from Queens, New York from a Jamaican family rooted in music. Mr. Campbell established Nova Sound, a technology company with a focus on music, media, events, and financial technology in 2014 to serve non-profit organizations, recording studios, and venues across South Florida. Mr. Campbell credits his motivation to succeed from his humble beginnings. After discovering his passion for music and media he started his first media company in high school and found innovative ways to make money. Gerald was elected editor and chief of his high school yearbook, and this cultivated his passion for technology and business. Participating in the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) club and the business department in high school is where he realized his true talent. Gerald has 10+ years’ experience of studying business and finance through multiple schools and academies. These academies covered topics like international business, business and entrepreneurship, entertainment business, music law, economics, e-commerce, cryptocurrency, foreign exchange and stock market investing, insurance and retirement planning as well as Youth advocacy. While matriculating through college and financial certification courses, Gerald was able to home in the skills to not only be a well-rounded financial educator, but also a proficient market trader. The inspiration to start Nova Financial Technology began when his parent company, Nova Sound, reached the seven-year business mark. In this first five years of business, Nova Sound has grown to provide several products and services including but not limited to NovaSound.Shop, which is a store of stage and studio products and equipment. NovaSound.Music, which is home to multiple albums and musical compilations and NovaSound.Live, which event production service that has been the anchor of the business. Over those seven years, Gerald observed young professionals struggle financially and wanted to do something about it. Thus, the inception of Nova Financial Technology. The mission of Nova Financial Technology is to simplify the financial world for entrepreneurs, entertainers, producers, and everyday business professionals by increasing their financial IQ. Achieving this I.Q. through education of financial concepts such as budgeting, passive income, retirement planning, and investing. This will create confidence in young creators and the future business leaders of tomorrow. Alongside Gerald, Nova Financial Technology is led by a team of experts in their branch of the financial world. After 10 years in business and watching peers struggle through entertainment and production-related industries, Gerald perfected a system and developed a program that teaches young professionals how to prepare a wealth planning strategy for their future beyond their careers. To reach this demographic of young professionals, Gerald began doing philanthropy work with college students and at-risk youth in South Florida through non-profit organizations, which sparked his idea to create the Nova Sound Internship Program. The Nova Sound Internship program is where students learn about technology and financial literacy as they take their first step as professionals. The program targets students who are near college graduation. The Nova Sound Interns are taught key components of financial literacy through rigorous differentiated instruction that connects the financial concepts to real-life application strategies. Making financial literacy fun, interesting, digestible, understandable, entertaining, and engaging is foundational to his strategies approach. Using “real-life” scenarios to make the information relevant and applicable to his students has proven to be paramount in their retention of the skills taught. His goal is to bridge the knowledge gap between the entertainment and financial industries. A gap that has left generations of entertainers broke without retirement and artists being robbed of their intellectual property. “With time and discipline, anyone can change their relationship with money. The professionals that make up the entertainment and production industries can be taught better money management practices. We have all heard the horrific stories of entertainers losing everything due to poor money management, and often the same applies to the producers, managers, and engineers who work around them. For individuals in this industry, career planning and professional development are essential to their success.” (Campbell, G., 2023) The financial educator aspires to help people who have graduated from music and media programs to build a strong career plan through financial literacy and professional development. Mr. Campbell teaches strategies on how to generate passive and portfolio income. Nova Sound Money is an initiative through financial technology that helps artists and young adults develop and make sound investment decisions. Through the Nova Sound Money initiative, the students learn about long and short term investment options, as well as a strategic plan for retirement. The educators use various technology integration strategies to effectively teach the financial principles in a more innovative way. His company hosts several free events and open Zoom calls exposing people to the information. Investment strategies, portfolio management and career advancement are just a few of the topics discussed on the Zoom calls. Through hosting these free events and open Zoom calls, Mr. Campbell has provided a platform for the young professionals to gain direct access to professionals in financial world.