Charisse is the award-winning author of the children’s books, I Am Barack Obama (2009), I Dream for You a World: A Covenant for Our Children (2007) and Nappy (2006), as well as Songs of a Sistermom: Motherhood Poems (2004). I Am Barack Obama recently won a 2009 Honor Award from Skipping Stones Multicultural Magazine. Charisse is the founder of a publishing company, Brand Nu Words LLC where she has sold over 18,000 books, and now concentrates on digital publishing. She is a senior officer of The Jamestown Project, an action-oriented think tank focusing on democracy; a Diamond Life Member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.; and a graduate of Harvard Law School, where she was a schoolmate of President Obama, Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, where she was poet laureate.

Charisse has served as a speaker or presenter for numerous national and regional organizations, and has appeared on Inside Edition, ABC News Now, CBS’s CW Network, Comcast’s CN-8, Radio One, and American Urban Radio Networks. She resides in Washington, DC with her husband of over fourteen years, Harvey, and their daughter and son.