It all began in the summer of 1998 with a high school teacher, a corporate trainer and a shared passion…

Charlene Kamper and Denny Macha first met at the Smart Marriages conference in Washington D.C. in 1998.  While attending a brown bag lunch meeting focused on youth programming they found they shared a passion to equip youth to more fully develop successful relationship skills. Through further discussion at the conference, Char and Denny concluded they needed to keep in contact and learn more about one another’s work.

Denny was in the process of finalizing the first part of the Being Yourself^® Curriculum series, yet found that his materials were not in a format ready for publication. Having previously authored youth curricula and being a high school teacher, Char had the necessary insights to bring the curriculum to market. Via email, phone conversations, and cross-country trips, a collaborative effort developed, the passion became a vision. and the vision became a reality in January 2000 when the Being Yourself^® Curriculum was first published.

“The most profound influence on any person's life is the quality of relationships that shape it from the very beginning.”

Charlene is co-author of the Being Yourself^® Curriculum. In addition, she is a full-time teacher of Introductory and Advance Placement Psychology at Redlands High School in Redlands, CA. She holds a M.A. in Family Studies and is a Certified Family Life Educator (CFLE). She has taught at both the elementary and secondary education levels throughout her teaching career. Ms. Kamper taught Health for three years at Redlands High School and co-authored the health curriculum being taught there. In addition, she is author of two relationship curricula designed for the secondary level student: Connections: Dating and Emotions, and Connections: Relationships and Marriage.

Ms. Kamper is a member of the National Council on Family Relations and the San Bernardino County Teen Pregnancy Prevention Coalition. She serves on the advisory board of Alternative Group Homes, an organization that houses and educates juveniles for Riverside County, CA. As an educator, Ms. Kamper is active in student and parent training classes and is a frequent lecturer on issues affecting adolescents at state and national conferences.

“In 1995, I was given the opportunity to work with a group of students in a summer jobs program. Their excitement and hunger to learn about themselves kindled a new passion within me, and significantly changed the direction of my work life.”

Denny is co-author of the Being Yourself^® Curriculum and a founding partner of Being Yourself Learning Resources, LLC. In developing the curriculum, he had the opportunity to work with a large number of youth in a variety of settings. While Denny continues to facilitate the curriculum with student groups from time to time, he spends much of his time presenting and exhibiting at education conferences, training those interested in facilitating the curriculum, and developing additional learning resources. He is a member of the Michigan Association of Community and Adult Education, MARO Employment and Training Association, American Society for Training & Development and the National Rehabilitation Association.

In 1991, prior to his work with youth, Denny founded HPower & Associates, LLC, a corporate training and development company. In his work with adults, he focuses on personal, team, leadership and organization development. He serves a wide variety of customers in education, business and industry, government agencies, and non-profit organizations. Denny also holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in metallurgical engineering and has over 18 years experience in the aerospace industry.