Charlene Costanzo

Charlene Costanzo is an award-winning author; experiential workshop facilitator; retreat leader; cancer survivor; and down-to-earth speaker who courageously tells her life stories and inspires others to share theirs in ways that illuminate their inner gifts.

In seven books, hundreds of presentations, and thousands of daily reflections, Charlene has elucidated what she calls The Twelve Gifts message. Essentially, that message says: You are valuable. You are gifted with strength, beauty, courage, compassion, hope, joy, talent, imagination, reverence, wisdom, love and faith. With these innate gifts you have the power to triumph over challenges. You can utilize opportunities. You matter. Bring your gifts into every area of your life. Your dreams matter. Use your gifts to make a difference in the world.

Charlene has a sense of mission about helping children and adults recognize their Twelve Gifts, develop them, and put them to good use. For the past twenty years, while bringing The Twelve Gifts message to tens of thousands of people in diverse venues, Charlene has been collecting stories, gathering tools, and creating materials to make these twelve abstract gifts more tangible and esteemed so that LIVING The Twelve Gifts becomes a desirable daily practice. LIVING The Twelve Gifts will be the overarching theme of Charlene’s works as she celebrates The Twelve Gifts  20th Anniversary from September 2019 through December 2021. It is also the maxim for this stage of her own life journey as she seeks to use the gifts more mindfully each day. In sharing her experiences and the stories of others, Charlene addresses LIVING THE TWELVE GIFTS when life is easy and when it is hard, such as when she faced advanced lymphoma and when she had a double mastectomy.

On the personal side, Charlene is a wife of fifty years, mother of two daughters, and grandmother of twins. She hold a B.A. in Philosophy from St. Bonaventure University and an M.A. in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica.