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In 2007, Charise decided she wanted to learn the production side of the business firsthand, and set her sights on working with Martin Chase Productions, headed up by Debra Martin Chase. After hearing Debra speak at a Black Women Lawyers event in Chicago, and learning that Debra had helped nurture another Chicago talent by the name of Shonda Rhimes, Charise knew she had found the right place.Thus began her weekly commute between Chicago and Los Angeles.

The next step occurred in 2008 when Charise was accepted into the USC/Warner Brothers Directing & Producing Summer Program at the University of Southern California. She finished up the summer by directing her first independent film, The Hands.

Before all of this, Charise attended the University of Wisconsin, majoring in Journalism. She went on to explore her writing in public relations, politics, newspapers, and law, before returning to the creative side of writing, and attending DePaul University’s Masters in Writing Program. After a brief stint of teaching freshman English, Charise realized that screenwriting and short stories were her chosen path. Soon she had her first story published, “Same Old Mess” in the book Jane’s Stories. She attended a summer screenwriting program at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, and was on her way to discovering how to connect her love of writing with her love of film.

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