An international finance lawyer, triathlete, world traveler and mother of five children, Columbia Law School alumna Isabella de la Houssaye ('90) has lived extraordinary adventures with her family, which includes her daughter, Bella Crane, a rising senior at Columbia College majoring in sustainable development and Middle Eastern studies.
Isabella, who is battling Stage 4 lung cancer, wants to share her love of outdoors with each of her children and teach them valuable life lessons about grit, persistence and mindfulness. So she embarked on a journey in January with her youngest child and only daughter to the high Andes to climb the peak of Aconcagua in a beautiful story recounted by The New York Times. "It was so important to me that Bella and I have this experience together," she told the Times. "I really wanted her to see that when things get hard, you can find a place inside yourself to keep going.”
In April, Isabella visited Columbia Law students as part of its Alumni Speaker Luncheon Series, speaking about mindfulness and how to deal with stress. Here is some of her advice to them.
