Isabela Tibcherani is a Filipino national and the first lady of the Philippines. She was born in Dumaguete, Albaylon, Leyte. When she was young, her parents had already separated and she lived with her two sisters and brother. Her younger sister became a maid and after a year of her marriage, her brother moved away to pursue his profession. Isabela remained at home alone for the next seven years and then her father took her to join her mother in San Juan.
Isabela remained at the family farm until independence when her brother returned to marry Eliza Uribe, the first lady of the Philippines. She remained there as a housekeeper until Eliza became a United States citizen. Isabela became a Philippine citizen in 1898 and that is when her career of practicing as a lawyer started. In her younger years, she used her knowledge in helping other people settle their marital status issues by working as an interpreter and legal assistant in the Manila Stock Exchange.
At an advanced age, she decided to pursue a law degree at the University of San Benito, but before she could start, her brother died and she lost her parents’ nationality. She then pursued a law in the province of Cavite in the state of New Mexico, but the school failed to accept her because she did not have a U visa. Finally she moved to the New Mexican state of Arizona, where she earned a law degree at the University of Phoenix.