How Charlene went from living on benefits to partying at Buckingham Palace

Despite the trauma and low moments Charlene, 36, has experienced in her life, she is still smiling. And what's more, she has proved anything is possible once you set your mind to it.

From being penniless to enjoying the Queen’s garden party at Buckingham Palace, and from being unable to use a keyboard to now founding her own charity which is helping people find employment, Charlene is an inspiration.

She says: ‘I was born in Liverpool and my childhood was very chaotic. I had some very dark times.’

Charlene admits her relationship with her family was difficult and when she split up from her boyfriend of four years at 21, it all seemed too much. She says: ‘I promised myself that not one person would ever make me feel that low again.

‘I never would have thought that this was just the beginning of my problems and that I would need all my inner strength to have courage in the face of adversity.’

But one night on the dance floor led to a blossoming relationship with who she thought was her Prince Charming. ‘Life was amazing, we were married within the year. I finally found my happily ever after,’ says Charlene, who now lives at Rowlands Castle.

‘I remember one day when my son was eight months old we went to get his first passport pictures. As we were pulling out of the street we had a disagreement and all I remember was a fist connecting to the side of my head.

‘After shouting I was going to call the police, I never did.

‘Five years, lots of black eyes, a bruised body, and another child later, I finally left. People often ask why it took me so long to leave? It took me so long because I was broken.’

In 2010, Charlene and her two children, aged four and two at the time, moved to Leigh Park. The Great Recession had technically just ended, but its aftermath was only just starting to be felt by some, including Charlene.

Charlene started to live on her universal credit payments and she remembers vividly how her card was once declined in a shop when she was buying milk and bread. She says: ‘However, that happening was the catalyst for my next move. I now empathise with the people who are claiming benefits and bringing up children and I want to reduce the stigma.

‘I felt I had let myself and my children down. That night I was at my lowest, if the government was not going to help, I had to do it myself.’

Charlene then volunteered at a friend’s mortgage broker business to gain experience in the workplace. ‘My feeling at that point was sheer joy, excitement. I felt like I would be putting my benefit money to good use.

‘I no longer felt like I was incompetent just because I was on benefits.’

However just as Charlene felt like she was finding her feet, her life changed forever when her son, Taylor, was diagnosed with hereditary and debilitating condition called Marfan Syndrome, which affects the body's connective tissue and most commonly the heart.

Sadly, Charlene found out she also had the syndrome. ‘We got the genetic test back from me and his father and it came from me. I have Marfan syndrome also,’ explains Charlene.

‘I spent all this time never knowing the truth so for a while it all came crashing down on me.’

In 2012, after being offered a permanent job at the mortgage brokers, she had to leave after Taylor spent three months recovering at home from surgery. She says: I was gutted if I’m honest as I had worked so hard at the mortgage brokers to make a more comfortable financial life for me and the two kids but I could not take a position up with them as my son needed me.’

Following Taylor’s surgery, consultants at Southampton General Hospital also detected a heart murmur, unveiling he had two mild leaks in his heart valves.

Charlene explains: ‘The saddest thing to be told was he could never play for a football team or play other contact sports.

‘I remember the train ride home, I cried all the way. I had no one to support me, I felt lost and alone again.’

After reaching out for support at the Prince’s Trust, Charlene felt she finally had someone to talk to. She was eventually offered a job at the trust, reaching the role of Volunteer Secondment Executive during which she oversaw 120 people until her contract ended in 2016.

‘Leaving was bittersweet. I was so happy there but it also gave me a launchpad to set up my own charity called Choices For You,’ says Charlene.

The charity – which was founded in January 2017 – aims to help those who are struggling to escape unemployment and need help getting their feet on the career ladder.

Via Charlene and the board of trustees, the charity has compiled programmes which develop the necessary skills for specific jobs.

‘I registered the charity in November 2020 and that was a very proud moment for me,’ says Charlene.

‘The charity is designed and developed by the unemployed for the unemployed and we welcome the public to get involved and help us shape the charity moving forward.

‘I am currently studying a degree in Business Management and Leadership, with the ambition to study a Masters in Global Leadership at The Open University.

‘I have completed Level 3 in Education and Training, ITQ2 and business administration and am currently studying health and nutrition at college too.’

Alongside her studies, being a single parent and building a flourishing charity, Charlene has also held International Women’s Day and Men’s Day events in her community to bring people together.

So now when Charlene reflects on what she has achieved since her crisis at 28 years old, she is immensely proud of what she had achieved – and rightly so. ‘We were given the news that my son does not need a heart operation, which has been a relief. My own heart scan came back with the same results.

‘I want to reduce the stigma around receiving benefits because that lifeline enabled me to be where I am today.

‘I am indeed living my best life with gratitude to adversity for allowing me to learn, grow but above all succeed,' says Charlene.

For more information about Choices For You, go to choicesforyou.org.