Español Charis Barks is the creator and webmaster of BoliviaBella.com and GoSouthExpat.com, two websites dedicated to making the transition to overseas living easier for expatriates, in addition to providing country facts and information on tourist attractions. As an extension of BoliviaBella.com she also established a relocation and destination services company called Expat Services, to assist expatriates relocating to Bolivia.

Charis' university studies focused on journalism and creative writing, political science and international relations, Spanish and Portuguese, and geology, all of which she puts to active use as a photographer and writer of travel articles, writer and designer of her websites, and as the owner of VPO Bilingual Services, a company that has provided document translation and simultaneous conference interpretation services in Bolivia, since 1998. As an interpreter, Charis has specialized in the oil and gas industries, education, health, rights-based aid, and environmental conservation.

A U.S. citizen, Charis was born in Minnesota, but has spent the majority of her life living and traveling overseas. Most of her childhood was spent relocating continuously between Ecuador, the U.S. and Bolivia. In her adult and professional life, she has also lived and worked in Mexico, Texas, Miami, New York, New Jersey, California, and has traveled to Norway, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Panama, and Peru.

Charis is an incurable chocoholic who also owns a bakery. She actively supports various environmental causes (Earth Hour, Earth Day, Green Hearts Project, Forest Conservation, and Santa Cruz Crece Verde), is an avid photographer, writes travel articles for several websites other than her own, will travel at the drop of a suitcase, is a crazy rollerblader, and has won a number of awards for her poetry.