From Caguas, Puerto Rico, Charlene obtained a B.S. in Biology from the University of Puerto Rico-Cayey, and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Following an AAAS Mass Media Fellowship at El Nuevo Día, she is now a science writer for the Waisman Center at UW-Madison, writing about the science and services at the Waisman Center, in addition to forming relationships with the Hispanic and Latino communities in Madison, and developing communications in Spanish that are also culturally relevant. In the summer of 2021, Charlene did the longest zipline in the Americas (1.5 miles long and with speeds up to 94 mph).