In the summer of 2004, I was working as an I.T. manager for a growing company in the healthcare industry. On the very day of my 11th anniversary with the company, my boss calls me into his office and the HR director was there. They were hiring a team of engineers from EDS to take the company to new heights, and they were effectively eliminating my position. Happy anniversary. I got a small severance package and a pat on the back.
After my head stopped spinning, I was unsure what I wanted to do. I didn’t really want to stay in I.T. Then a friend said, “Hey, you oughta think about getting back into voiceovers. You’re a really good actor and you have a really nice voice.” I had dabbled in VO since 1993 but could I do it full time? I was advised to put a demo together. I couldn’t afford one from a big rockstar recording studio so I bought a second-hand mixer and a decent microphone from eBay and cobbled together my own demo. Listening to it today, it was really quite bad but I thought it was awesome at the time. I let other actor friends give me their opinions and they liked it so much that they wanted me to make demos for them. Then a lightbulb went off. Maybe I can record demos for other actors. And on October 2, 2004 (which also happens to be my brother’s birthday) Lambert Studios was born.
The past 20 years have offered amazing opportunities. Lambert Studios was involved in post-production for TV shows like “Law & Order SVU” and “Chicago Fire.” I’ve worked with Grammy winners, movie stars, professional athletes, and U.S. congressmen. I have also picked up some great skills along the way.
While Lambert Studios enjoyed high visibility, from a business perspective, it was not what some would call a “success.” However, I’m proud to say it never went into debt. I eventually came to the realization that I had spent so much time and energy marketing Lambert Studios and helping others start their voiceover careers that I had lost sight of why I started the business to begin with – to get back into voiceovers myself. So I retooled in early 2019 and started phasing out some Lambert Studios offerings and focused more on my own voiceover career. Because of the level of competition in the voiceover industry, I thought it was nearly impossible to build a career based solely on VO. Boy, I was wrong. Today, my VO work has so exceeded my expectations that I will be halting all operations at Lambert Studios on this 20th anniversary of its inception.
Looking back, the journey from being an I.T. manager to running Lambert Studios has been a mix of unexpected twists, humbling challenges, and profound rewards. Sometimes, the doors that close on us are the very ones that guide us toward a path we’re truly meant to walk. Today, I’m stepping fully into what ignites my passion and creativity—voiceover. It’s not the end of the road, but a new chapter that’s already unfolding with promise and excitement. Here’s to always pursuing what drives us, even when the path forward seems unclear. Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this adventure. The best is yet to come.