Tina Charles of the New York Liberty is having quite a season. She's in Rio, going for her second Olympic gold medal after winning one in London in 2012. For three months in a row, she's been named the WNBA Eastern Conference Player of the Month. She currently leads the WNBA in both scoring and rebounding — for those who have followed her career, the connection has always started with basketball. But her work extends beyond the court.

Tina Charles  is at the top of  her game.

She’s having an MVP-type season for the New York Liberty,

She's playing in her second Olympics.

She might be the best local athlete you’ve never heard of.

That’s especially remarkable because hers has always been a New York story.

"Y’know being born in raised in Queens, NY, I grew up watching the New York Liberty. So for me watching Teresa Weatherspoon, Becky Hammond, Vicky Johnson, um if I could ever wear a New York Liberty uniform I wanted to make it happen in my career before I retired," Charles said.

The six-foot-four center was the number one pick in the 2010 WNBA draft, and the league’s MVP two years later.

A blockbuster trade in 2014 sent her to the Liberty — and she began trying to bring her hometown team its first championship.

Question: Is it ever a burden or is it always a blessing?

"It’s definitely a blessing," Charles said. "And you know for me, it’s not the expectations of others, but the team.

"Because I think of my team and what’s needed and knowing that a percentage of my success will make it easier for my teammates. That's what I carry going into games."

The expectations for Charles and Team USA are also high at the Olympics. But her time in Rio will not only be about winning.

"The camaraderie was the best part of my Olympic experience back in 2012," Charles said. "You’re on a team with a group of elite women and you know, you get to understand them, what gets them up for the game, their motivation, and I think for me that allowed me to have a lot more respect for them."

This has been a busy summer for Charles in other ways.

After the police shootings of black men in Baton Rouge, La. and St. Paul, Minn. and then the murder of five police officers in Dallas, Charles and her Liberty teammates wore jerseys that displayed the hashtags Black Lives Matter and Dallas5.

"That came about from the three leaders of this team," Charles said. "Myself, Tanisha Wright and Swin Cash and what speaks from the t-shirt is that, you know, we have a system that is failing us. And it’s forcing individuals who want to take matters into their own hands.

"Being on the platform that I have, playing at MSG, it was really important that we were able to voice that in a way. You can’t say that all lives matter until you pay attention to the black population and what’s going on."

Charles grew up in Queens and started going to Liberty games at Madison Square Garden not long after the WNBA was born.

"I saw an opportunity, I was able to have a dream to say one day I want to be able to play in the WNBA. It didn’t just stop at the collegiate level for me. I could go further than that."

She was an elite player at Christ The King High School, in Middle Village, Queens, the leading scorer on a team that won 57 consecutive games, and was ranked number one in the country.

She won national and state player of the year awards.

But, success did not come easily.

"The drive to be consistent is what drove me to want to be in the gym all the time," Charles said. "You know, wanting to be able to finish around the rim. Wanting to set little goals for myself. Wanting to separate myself from others. Um, you know, I always had to work for what I have. A lot of individuals believe that, you know, I’m just talented. But no, I had to work on every skill set that you guys see me perform night in and night out."

In 2006, Charles entered the University of Connecticut — then, like now, one of the top women's basketball programs in the country.

Charles experienced something new.

"The thought of doubt definitely creeped into my mind," Charles said. "I’d more so say my first two years at UConn. They were the hardest. You know, what I thought working hard was when I was in high school definitely wasn’t. You know, Coach Auriemma gave me a reality check of what being competitive really was."

But even during those times, before Charles would win national awards as the best collegiate player in America and lead UCONN to two national titles, there were games where her tremendous talent was on display.

"The next day, Coach Auriemma called me in his office and said, do you know why that happened? And for me I just felt like, you know, it was just one of those games. Everything just went my way. And he said to me, 'The moment you realize why that happened is when you’ll become a great player.' And you know, that’s when it boiled down to your work ethic. You know, wanting to have the mindset all the time."

Away from the court and the limelight, another experience at UCONN made an imprint.

An internship at a prison near campus.

"My minor was criminology and my major was psychology," she said. "And I was helping the inmates with their reintegration back into society. So I had to come up with pamphlets and brochures. You know to help them along the way.

"I was able to shadow the correctional officer; I was able to shadow the warden at the time. It was low offenders, so it wasn’t like I was in any testy situation. But it was very rewarding for me, you know. Just to see that they really cared what I had to say."

This is Charles seventh year in the WNBA.

She long ago established herself as a superstar.

But life for this sports superstar is different from the lives of her male sports superstar counterparts.

First of all, to get to games at the Garden, she travels just like the rest of us.

"I take the subway all the time," she said. "Long Island Rail Road being from Queens. The E line, the F, I take it all."

There's another reality for Charles and other top WNBA players, who are not paid anywhere near NBA players?

When their season is over, another one is beginning.

To keep up her game and augment her salary, Charles plays overseas.

"I look at it as, as a 'I gotta go do this,' as this is a continuation of my job," she said. "Um, I also do look forward to also getting away sometimes, and I have the opportunity to be in a country. As you said I played in Turkey, I played in Russia, I played in Poland, I played in China, so for me I’m able to adapt to another culture."

Charles is not all about basketball.

In past seasons, she has donated half her WNBA salary to charity. And this year,  according to the Liberty, she’s donating all of her WNBA salary to her Hopey's Heart Foundation, named for a beloved aunt who died. It provides schools with CPR training and automated external defibrillators.

"I read an article on a high school basketball player Wes Leonard, who passed away from sudden cardiac arrest," she said. "His high school in Michigan did not have an AED. Up to the time in my career, I never heard of sudden cardiac arrest – when the heart suddenly stops. And I never knew what an automated external defibrillator was. What you need when you collapse from sudden cardiac arrest."

Charles has also funded the building of a school in Mali, as part of a program sponsored by the nonprofits Build On and OmniPeace, for which she serves as a sports ambassador.

"There’s times on my days off and I want to go to the gym and I want to work out on my game, but physically I just can’t. And I’m able to say let me put all my focus on my foundation. And how I can impact others.

"You know, there’s times when I’m able to take a week off and go visit my family in Kingston, Jamaica and reflect back on my career and where I am now and what I can do differently. But there are times when it’s so back to back to back that you’re not able to appreciate what you’re able to do. But I know when that time comes, god willing 7 or 8 years later when I retire I’ll be able to have that and soak it all in."