Charis' university studies focused on journalism and creative writing, political science, international relations, Spanish, 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 provided document translation, accompaniment interpretation, consecutive interpretation, and simultaneous conference interpretation services in Bolivia, between 1998 and 2014. It is now BoliviaTranslators.com.

As an interpreter, Charis specializes primarily in the oil and gas industries (drilling, geology and geophysics, environmental liabilities, compression mechanics, and petroleum economics), working also on issues relating to education aid, health aid, gender and rights-based aid, human trafficking and slave labor, international trade, bio-trade and fair trade, aviation and aeronautics, and environmental conservation. As a former US Embassy registered translator for over 15 years, she also worked on hundreds of legal and immigration documents. Additionally, Charis has worked as a voice talent, doing voice-overs for commercials and documentaries.

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 Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey, California, Minnesota, Norway, Ecuador, Guatemala and Mexico, and has traveled to Germany, Holland, Belgium, Panama, Brazil and Peru.

Currently living in the USA, Charis founded BoliviaTranslators.com to provide a way to match companies overseas with professional translators and interpreters in Bolivia, and conversely, for Bolivia-based translators and interpreters to more effectively market their skills and services worldwide.