In Japan, she worked as managing editor for International Press En Español weekly and as Tokyo correspondent for El Mundo daily.

She was the recipient of the "Equality Award Teresa León Goyri - City of Logroño 2022" [1] highlighting the vital and professional career of Alvarez-Stehle as journalist, writer, filmmaker and women's rights advocate and, especially, her fight against sexual violence and trafficking.

The award of the City of Logroño bears the name of the Spanish politician, writer and activist of the Generation of '27, María Teresa León Goyri, one of the so-called "Hatless Women," as a tribute and recognition of her social commitment and her literary work.

She then worked for NHK Enterprises in the development of documentary films and as managing editor of International Press en español,[7][8] Japan’s first Spanish weekly.

[9] In 1995, Chelo moved to California, settling in Malibu and continued to contribute to El Mundo and other media outlets such as Geo and Planeta Humano, specializing in social and women’s issues.

In 2003, Canal+ (Spanish satellite broadcasting company) turned her first reportage on child trafficking in the Himalayas for Planeta Humano magazine into the documentary film Tin Girls (Niñas de Hojalata, 2003)[10] for which Alvarez-Stehle was interviewer, assistant director and consultant.

Alvarez-Stehle has presented it at over 25 film festivals across continents, at multiple universities such as Oxford and Yale, at Bar Associations in the US and Europe, at women's organizations, and in prisons to sexual violence offenders.

[23] Broadcast on RTVE's "La noche temática" show on November 25, 2017, under its Spanish title "Arenas de Silencio", also on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

[24] In 2021, South African publisher Quinton van der Burgh Media,[25] publishes the portrait book 100 Making A Difference, an initiative of Hollywood photographer John Russo, featuring one hundred people and organizations leading social projects, from celebrities like George Clooney, to activists like Malala Yousafzai, and including among them Chelo Alvarez-Stehle and Virginia Isaías, protagonist of the documentary Arenas of Silence and founder of the Survivors of Human Trafficking Foundation.