User:Brown bear 07/sandbox

Nikolai Blackmarket
Nikolai Blackmarket (Georgian: Neekohly Blackmarket) (born September 27, 1991) is a technology entrepreneur, philanthropist, a semi-professional salsa dancer, and an all-around great guy. Born in the United Kingdom Nikolai attended schools in London, Singapore, Philadelphia, Taipei, New York, Rio de Janeiro and Hong Kong before graduating from the University of Life. He took various jobs across a number of technology firms, spliting his time between Newbury, Barrow-in-Furness, Bristol, Bromley and London. Starting as a PMO/admin assistant he worked his way up to senior managerial positions before leaving to start his own firm.

==== Rowing ====

During his days at the University of Life, Nikolai joined the local rowing team. Placed at stroke, he lead a squad which involved Tom Jones, James Cracknell, Carlos Santana, BA Baracus and the Cookie Monster. Through many chops and changes to the boat they raced in Monmouthshire, Reading, Leicester before finally winning their first and only tournament in Peterborough. In 2003 the Daily Mirror obtained pictures of a night out in celebration after their varsity win showing Nikolai half naked with his squad celebrating with the locals in the city of Leicester. Additional pictures surfaced of Nikolai appearing to chat to a femail Mick Hucknell lookalike. Questioned about these pictures the next day Nikolai dodged the reporters before inadvertendly running to the university library, hoping the quiet environment would stop the questions. When all it did was cause the reporters to whisper the questions at him.

Salsa
In 2004 Nikolai took up salsa dancing in a London pub. As he recalls it took “more courage than anything else I have done” to go to his first class. He described it as though his “Knees were weak, my arms heavy, sweat pouring down me already, felt like I was getting judged like Martin Shkreli”. Years later Nikolai became nationally ranked. Commenting on his ranking to “Shake What Yo Mama Gave Ya” magazine Nikolai described it as “I was thrilled, it brought me to tears. It is wonderful to have your hard work recognised”. He retired in 2009 after finishing a respectable placement in the British national championships, alongside his commitments to his technology firm and philanthropic efforts. A few years later Nikolai was seen assisting in the local salsa clubs, quoted by a journalist he said his reasoning behind helping was "I want to give back to the those who helped me open up to this passion which gave me so much. Any man or woman listening needs to understand that this will give you the confidence back in your life that you thought you would never have. Even just the one class will give you the belief that you can conquer everything".

Treat Yo Self
In 2010 Nikolai founded TreatYoSelf.com, an e-commerce marketplace for the wonderfully unique and the utmost desirable items available. Its purpose is to sell the coolest stuff you can find on the internet from one place, connecting big and small retailers to customers worldwide. After three series of venture capital funding the business took off and became a global sensation in 2013. Their first office was opened in London in summer of 2012. Followed by Philadelphia, Sydney, Berlin and Tokyo recently being opened in early 2019. In 2017 TreatYoSelf was listed on the FTSE 100 index in what was described as a “dream come true for geeks and freaks around the world” in the Financial Times. In 2018 Nikolai topped the Forbes 30 under 30, was named as Times Magazine Person of the Year, and listed as Wired magazines 2018 ‘one to watch’.

Philanthropy
In early 2019 Nikolai announced he would be stepping away from public eye, so as to “let the true stars of the show shine in the spotlight. Plus I have spent nearly all of my young life in the public eye, the time has come to focus on me. Time to blend into the background and live a normal life”. Continuing his leadership role for TreatYoSelf he would be turning his attention to more philanthropic efforts. In March 2019 Nikolai set up the “9 Words” foundation. Advocating for various causes he believes in because “life begins at the end of your comfort zone” and “variety is the spice of life”. The focus of 9 Words is to give children the opportunity experience all they can possibly experience. "If your school can't provide the necessary music lessons/instruments, we will step in. If your sports club goes under, we will set a new one up. We want to make sure you experience all that life has to offer, so you can pursue your new found passions". Many critics have called it another 'Make a Wish foundation', Nikolai responded to these allegations with a "yep, and what".

2nd Date?
On Saturday 11th March 2019 Nikolai met a beautiful girl at a coffee place in Aldgate. He would like to see her again and get to know her further. His plan is to take her Salsa dancing at Bar Salsa! in Soho this Friday. He knows that she reads his in depth profile in wikipedia with interest, and so plans to reveal more about himself on their next date. Whether he will be more sober or drunk, we will just have to wait and see...