We recently connected with Chris “CJ” Lambert and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Chris “CJ” thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

In May of 2014, my wife Kelly and I welcomed our second son into the world, but this time it was different. Hudson had Down Syndrome and needed an immediate life-saving surgery. One hour after birth, he was rushed over to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center for surgery and then spent his first 23 days in the NICU. We were exhausted and scared but finally able to bring our boy home. Hudson had multiple surgeries his first few years, including open heart surgery at 7 months old.

We were grateful for Cincinnati Children’s Hospital saving Hudson’s life and wanted to give back. A musician friend of mine, Toby Christensen, introduced me to Chris Lah, who was a revenue cycle director at CCHMC at the time. We were kicking around ideas on how to start a charity to get kids with medical issues exposed to the healing power of music. This was the start of Hear The Hope. Toby, Chris, & I obtained a 501(c)3 for HTH and hit the ground running.

Chris “CJ”, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I have been a professional guitarist, producer, & songwriter for nearly 25 years and have had the pleasure of working with several national & international artists & industry veterans in the studio and on the stage. Because of my career in the music business and my experience with my son Hudson, these two paths crossed and the creation of Hear The Hope was inevitable.

Hear The Hope makes dreams come true through songs of hope! We create music-oriented “dream come true” experiences for children’s hospital patients, veterans, cancer survivors and other community members with inspiring stories and a love for music. We involve participants in the creative process of writing, recording, & releasing original music. We write songs and/or team up with other writers, artists & celebrities to be involved with those participating in the project. Once we produce a song, we then showcase the participant and their backstory along with the release of the song through our website. People can then download the song to support our participants and help Hear The Hope continue to provide more “dream come true” experiences.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I’ll share a quick story about how HTH had to pivot during the pandemic. Our whole model was bringing kids into the studio to record on our songs. Covid put the brakes on this process at the time. We were not about to jeopardize the health of any of our sensitive participants. Ironically, we started receiving multiple requests from veterans to get involved with our music program. During the pandemic, we started releasing songs with several veterans, resulting in a buzz around that community. We now have a second division of HTH called HearTheHopeHeroes.org for all our veterans and first responders.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

The most effective way of growing our clientele has been word-of-mouth. We don’t really advertise and nearly 100% of the projects we have done have been from referral or our recruiting efforts. We have a great reputation & track record so that has helped us reach our participants in an organic way. We are a 501(c)3 and operate on a shoestring budget so nothing beats word-of-mouth advertising.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hearthehope.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hearthehope/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HearTheHope.org/
• Other: To learn more about my music background, please visit www.cjlambert.com