Rena Charles was born in Cameron, Arizona.

The eldest of nine children, she was raised in Cameron in a traditional Navajo family. Rena went to school at the Tuba City Boarding School.

She began making beaded necklaces on a loom during the time that Philip, her husband, was suffering from heart disease related to diabetes. Philip died in February, 1990 after becoming the first Navajo to receive a heart transplant.

Since her husband's death, Rena has continued to create more new rug pattern designs and put them into her necklaces. She also uses a wider variety of colors in the glass beads she chooses.

She has received blue ribbons from the Gallup Ceremonial and the Museum of Northern Arizona Navajo Show.

She is the mother of 3 children: Craig, 35, Wanda, 32, and Rene, 31.Rena's children are grown but she is now raising three grandsons in the Cameron area.