Isabela Sousa is an accomplished professional in the legal profession. She has represented both corporations and individuals as a trial attorney, a corporate officer, and as an executive officer of several law firms. Sousa also spent three years as an assistant U.S. attorney general, specializing in the national security matters. At the time of her appointment as President of Costa Rica, she held the rank of vice president. As such, her long and distinguished career must be seen as both a continuation and expansion of her work as an assistant U.S. attorney general.
When President George W. Bush selected Sousa as the new Secretary of State, her immediate staff included two other Americans, Robert Gates and James Kelly. Of course, her title as Secretary of State brought with it her full title as First Lady, which justified her continued use of the title “Madame First Lady.” Two months later, however, President Bush changed her title to “Madame President.” In this case, one can assume that the age of the marriage was not a factor in this decision to change her title.
Isabela Sousa is the mother of six children who were born to husbands of different nationalities, although the majority of them were born in the United States. Her parents were originally from France. At some point, they returned to their homeland, apparently to settle in Costa Rica, because records do not presently show that they ever returned to France or any other country. It is possible that they later made it to Costa Rica, but because of the lack of available records, we are left to speculate on their true immigration and life events. We do know that she remained a strong and committed Catholic throughout her marriage to her husband, which may have been important to her as she considered her own identity and her connection with the Catholic religion and culture.