July Digital Cover Story - Sam Boro

One-to-Many Vision, One Relationship at a Time

Sam Boro is a force reshaping the Midwest's creative economy from the ground up. Born in Nairobi and raised in Indiana, Sam is the founder of TopView, a creative agency that’s not just booking talent or managing brands—it’s building infrastructure, creating platforms, and reimagining what success looks like for artists and entrepreneurs in "flyover country." With one foot in Nairobi and the other in New York, LA, and Indy, Sam moves fluidly between global markets and local roots, using his background, relationships, and relentless drive to elevate those around him. His definition of success has matured over time: from chasing scale to creating meaningful impact one person at a time. Whether he's building a tech platform for creator payments or mentoring an emerging artist in Indiana, Sam keeps it real—and grounded. This interview captures the raw, honest story of a creative entrepreneur committed to changing the narrative from the inside out.

Per usual, we’ve edited the transcript for clarity and brevity.

Polina Osherov: You’re from Nairobi, grew up in Indiana and have travelled extensively. With your work, I imagine that there are days when your life looks like an episode of Entourage. How do you stay grounded?

Sam Boro: Yeah, that’s been the biggest awakening for me over the last few years. Working in entertainment—traveling to big cities, living in LA, coming back to Indiana—things get hectic. And if you don’t have faith or grounding, you lose yourself. For me, the further I got from my traditions, my family, and that sense of rootedness, the more I lost my way. I was chasing everything—clients, attention, growth—but I wasn’t grounded.

In the last couple years, I’ve had to step back and fight my ego every day. What really brought me back was returning to my family and remembering how we were raised—how we treat guests, how we serve each other. It reminded me that leadership starts with humility and consistency. That’s helped me reconnect with my "why."

We live in a time where everything’s about noise and performance, but people are tired. They’re starving for something real. What we need more than ever is real love, presence, and values. We need to go back to the basics.

PO: How did TopView begin, and what was the original inspiration?

SB: It started organically. My friend Jeremy Miller was on the Forbes list back in the day—he was doing wild stuff with Facebook ads right out of high school. Around that time, social media started to blow up, and people could actually make money from it. He said, "Start a platform, we’ll get paid for retweets." That’s where it began. I was looking at my friends—entrepreneurs, athletes, musicians—super talented people in Indiana, but no one was telling their stories or creating platforms to highlight them. So I bought a camera and started filming interviews, capturing their journeys. Then people started asking me, “Can you manage me?”

I looked around and saw that Indiana has a ton of creative talent but very little infrastructure to support or represent them. So I stepped in. Even though the way I dress might come off loud or attention-grabbing, I’ve never been the type to chase the spotlight. I actually prefer to stay in the background and let my work and the people I support shine. I saw the gap and filled it. 

PO: What does success look like for you today, compared to when you started?

SB: At the beginning, I thought success meant building a massive company—hundreds of employees, all these big-name clients, national partnerships. But over time, I realized I didn’t want to manage 100 people or chase every opportunity. I’ve shifted to this “one to many” mindset. Instead of managing the world, I want to invest deeply in one person or project that can then create impact at scale. Quality over quantity.

And I’ve experienced real loss. My friend Devin, an artist from Anderson, was killed just as he was starting to blow up. After he passed, his music got picked up by national outlets—BET, Complex, all of them. His funeral was packed, more people than live in Anderson. That showed me what true impact looks like. Devin served his purpose, even if his success didn’t look like a chart-topping career. That experience really shifted how I define success.

PO: Why does storytelling matter so much in your work?

SB: That’s everything. It’s why I started TopView—to tell my friends’ stories. Now more than ever, with so much content and noise, what cuts through is the story. People connect with your why. It’s not about being polished or perfect. That’s why TikTok and livestreaming are thriving—people are hungry for what’s real.

I always say: don’t tell me about the company you sold. Tell me what you went through before the win. What hit the fan? What made you nearly quit? That’s the gold. The shiny stuff is just the result of surviving the hard parts.

PO: You’ve worked with many different types of creatives. What separates the ones who break through?

SB: You’ve got to be delusional—and I mean that in a good way. You have to believe in yourself when nobody else does. You’ve got to be resilient. I’ve seen incredibly talented people let ego or comfort ruin them. They think talent alone will take them to the next level. It won’t.

And you’ve got to be willing to do the dirty work. Clean the kitchen if that’s what it takes. I know people who’ve been in this game for a decade, and they still hustle like it’s Day 1. No one’s above anything.

PO: You’ve said momentum is everything. How do you keep it?

SB: Momentum is the hardest thing to gain and the easiest to lose. Everyone has potential—but not everyone has discipline. In 2022, everything started to unravel. I lost a few key clients. My personal life was in chaos. I felt like I was slipping.

So I called my mentor, freaking out. He asked me, “Are you drinking every weekend?” I said, “Yeah.” Then he asked, “Are you reading? Are you working out?” I said no to both. He paused and said, “Then what are you doing?”

At the time, I couldn’t hear it. It took five months for his words to finally land. When they did, I had to face the truth—I wasn’t showing up for myself. I was going through the motions, playing the victim, expecting things to bounce back without putting in the work.

And I learned: you can’t rely on money or new clients to patch over what’s broken inside. When life hits from all directions, the only thing that saves you is self-discipline.

PO: Who are you working with right now at TopView?

SB: We manage a few key talents right now. Seb, a Grammy-winning producer behind hits like ‘Unforgettable’ (French Montana x Swae Lee) and collaborations with Chris Brown, Juice WRLD, and NBA YoungBoy. Originally from Indiana, he’s been based in LA for the past 10 years. We also work with Isaac Poole, a fashion photographer originally from Indy, now in New York. He’s the only Black male at New York Management, doing big things.

We manage two DJs—one in Philly, one in Miami—and R&B artist RBM Rello, who’s on the rise here in Indiana. I’m also building out a new platform called Paid M3—it’s a premium marketplace that helps creators get discovered and booked by global brands. It’s about scaling what we’re already doing with TopView.

PO: What role do events like Midwest Industry Night play in building Indy’s creative economy?

SB: Exposure and infrastructure. We started hosting Midwest Industry Night, flying in major industry players for free events, just to get people in the room together. When creatives in Indy see what’s possible—see that it’s not a fluke but actually within reach—they start thinking differently.

TopView is about showing people that success isn’t just on the coasts. It’s here, too. And we’re backing that with technology and opportunities.

PO: What needs to change in Indy for its creative economy to grow sustainably?

SB: We need infrastructure for supporting homegrown talent, period. Right now we’ve got corporate entertainment—where local artists are treated like side dishes at big events—and not enough focus on long-term investment in the artists themselves.

Also, we’ve got to stop putting all the funding in a handful of institutional buckets and expecting that to grow the pond for everyone. That’s lazy. We need to trust emerging leaders more—not just resourcing the same names and institutions. Let’s invest in the creators who are already here building something real.

And if we say we care about stopping brain drain, then let’s put our money where our mouth is. I make 90% of my money outside Indiana, but I spend it here. What’s keeping me here beyond cheap rent?

PO: What advice would you give to young and emerging creatives in Indiana?

SB: Whatever you want to do, try to be the best at it. Be disruptive. Don’t take no for an answer. Your destination may not look like you imagined, but don’t give up. Travel. Get exposure. Be in different rooms, even if they’re not your usual scene. Build your relationships and expand your worldview. The more you see, the more you’ll believe what’s possible.

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This story was made possible thanks to the generous support of our friends at Life in Indy.