At just 13 years old, Sam Polakoff began working part-time for his father’s supply chain management company, TBB Global Logistics (now Nexterus). Six years later, after completing his associate’s degree, he took on a full-time role while working toward his bachelor’s degree in marketing at Towson University. Despite pledging at that time that he’d work for just a few more years at the family business founded by his grandfather, Abraham Allan Polakoff, Sam spent a total of 49 years at the company, ultimately taking on the role of CEO. But during that time, he also pursued his personal passion: writing.
“I started writing novels in my fifties,” Polakoff said. “It was a challenge from a business coach. He said: What’s something you always wanted to accomplish that you’ve never done?”
Starting the process proved to be challenging. “I had all of these ideas, but I sat down in front of the screen, and I didn’t know what to do,” he said. “I had been a technical writer, I wrote reports for clients -- but a novel is something completely different.”
Eventually, Polakoff was able to channel a recurring dream that he’d had about his late grandfather into five chapters that would be the basis of his first novel, “Hiatus.” However, while he had crafted a foundation for the story, his writing still felt unrefined. But with a stroke of luck, he received a recommendation from a fellow writer at a friend’s barbecue to reach out to Diane O’Connell, a professional who helps first-time authors build their brands and get their books published.
As a prior editor for prominent publishing companies like Random House and Sesame Workshop, and author of six books and hundreds of magazine articles, O’Connell acts as a coach for new writers. At that time, she hosted writing retreats in the Berkshires in Massachusetts, and attending turned out to be a breakthrough for Polakoff. He was one of a small group of writers that O’Connell chose to work with long-term, and after over three years of writing and revisions, the collaboration resulted in the publication of “Hiatus” in January of 2018 through his own publishing company, Komodo Dragon Books.
After that, Polakoff said the process got easier. Since “Hiatus,” he has published five more novels and continues to write. His early books are primarily categorized as thrillers with themes related to science fiction, politics, medicine, and/or the paranormal. One, “Escaping Mercy,” was a winner of the American Fiction Awards and received two other recognitions by the National Indie Excellence Awards and Shelf Unbound.
More recently, Polakoff has switched gears, delving into historical fiction with his “Essie Lassiter Trilogy.” “I’ve always been fascinated by history, and as a reader, I enjoy reading historical fiction,” Polakoff said, explaining his transition to historical fiction. “I used to love to learn about foreign lands and world events through stories. If the author did a good job, I probably learned a lot of things that would have been boring in a different way.”
The trilogy tells the story of a young English midwife who overcomes seemingly insurmountable challenges in both London and Maryland in the 18th century. The first of the three books, “The Diary of Essie Lassiter,” was published in December 2024 and was a finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards. The second, “Freedom’s Lonely Cry,” became available in March of 2026.
Crafting the most recent novels required a different approach and some input from family. “Writing a first-person account from a woman’s perspective in 1773 was very challenging, but I wanted a challenge,” he said. “It took extra time, and I relied on both my wife and daughter for feedback.”
Today, Polakoff is no longer balancing the demands of running a company and writing. In 2025, he passed the torch to his son Ryan. The younger Polakoff took on the role of CEO at Nexterus in January of that year, making it one of the few family businesses in the United States that successfully transferred from the third generation to the fourth. “I still talk to Ryan. [At first], we were talking every day. Now we talk once or twice a week,” Sam said. “I still own the majority of the company, and I’m working on a plan to transition that over to him. He’s done a great job, and I’m very proud of him.”
The elder Polakoff is still keeping himself busy beyond his pursuits related to publishing from his home office in Forest Hill. For several years, he has been involved in a group that hosts author and artist events, but more recently, he has worked to build a large-scale festival that debuted in May. The Chesapeake Regional Authors & Artists Festival (CRAA Fest) is a multi-day event that features over 80 artists, from writers and muralists to improv performers and more. Plus, the event goes beyond sharing art and giving visibility to its makers -- it also gives back. “We became a 501(c)(3) so all of the proceeds can be distributed to charities that support the development of art and writing.”