Charlton-Trujillo attended Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, and did graduate work in film at Ohio University.
They also was the recipient of I. Hollis Perry-Billman and the Betty Thomas Filmmaking Awards for their thesis film Cielto Liendo (Pretty Sky).
Later, living in Wisconsin, she finished her first novel Prizefighter En Mi Casa, which won the Delacorte Dell Yearling Award, as well as the Parents' Choice Silver Honor for 'giving life —sadness, hope and despair to a Mexican family living in a small town in south Texas.
It received praise from authors Gregory Maguire (Wicked), Ellen Hopkins (Crank), Pat Schmatz (Blue Fish) and Jo Knowles (Harry's Place).
[3] In August 2016 Candlewick Press at the author's request indefinitely delayed publication of their novel in verse When We Was Fierce following criticism from early readers over concerns of its use of an invented black vernacular.