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Charisse Washington was born in “Chocolate City,” Washington D.C. on January 28th and had a great early childhood until her father was arrested and incarcerated for 5 years, forcing her family to move in with her maternal grandmother to avoid homelessness.

Charisse graduated from Archbishop John Carroll high school and went on to college in the fall of 1993. By October of 1994, Charisse gave birth to her son. To support herself and son she took on several jobs. She ended up working for a major telecommunications company in 2000. By 2002, she realized her life was at a major standstill and she needed to do something more.

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She met her inspiration; T. Styles and the two teamed up and ventured into the literary industry. Charisse quickly realized her niche and later became T. Styles’ manager by helping to promote her first self-published novel, “Rainbow Heart” in 2005.

When T. Styles was signed to an independent urban fiction house, Charisse was in charge of marketing, promotions and scheduling book signings for T. Styles and assisted greatly in launching her career. 

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In 2009, Charisse finally accomplished a major personal goal, completing her college journey by receiving her Bachelor’s of Science degree in Criminal Justice Administration.

Now an entrepreneur, Charisse and T. Styles created “The Cartel Publications” a new age urban fiction publishing company.

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Being a publisher, people often asked her when would her novel drop? Although she had many ideas for books, she never really had the patience to sit down and pen a complete novel. It wasn't until she attended her partner's seminar in 2012 entitled, "The End. How To Write A Bestselling Novel in 30 Days", and completed the book with the same title, that she got the tips, tools and confidence to start her book. 

 

Her debut novel, "Hersband Material" was released in 2013. Since then, The VP has acted in several independent projects for her and T. Styles Production company, Cartel Urban Cinema, as well as become the voice of the majority of The Cartel Publications Audiobook titles. She has also co-written a novel under a pen name for her company and completed the sequel to her debut, "Hersband Material 2: Jailhouse Butch" that was released in December 2021. She's currently working on the next book in the series.