FIRST GENERATION AMERICAN Drinks & Dialogue with Corinne Meier By: Ania Jablonowski God works in wonderful ways. As some of our readers know, I volunteer with the networking group, Connect.Inspire. Grow. Each month our group meets at St. John Brebeuf Church in Niles for a packing party to assemble lunches for the homeless, on behalf of St. Vincent DePaul’s aggregate food drive. Many parishioners know this as “Uncle Pete’s Food Drive”, in loving memory of Pete Zonsius. One day, I randomly stationed myself at the brown bag table alongside Corinne Meier, a first generation Swiss-American. After discovering how passionate Corinne was about her cultural experience, I invited her for an interview. Here is her story. “I was born in Switzerland, but raised in Coral Gables, Florida. My entire family and lineages are from there, so there’s only one American-born member in our family and that’s my brother,” says Corinne.” Corinne’s father had a business concept he wanted to launch, which her mom supported as she was not partial to the weather in Switzerland. “Life there is heavenly. It’s one of the most beautiful countries in the world. The weather can be like Chicago though, longwinded winters where you don’t see sunshine for days. The decision to launch the business was perhaps a bit influenced by the consistent sunshine that Miami could guarantee.” Her parents packed up their belongings and moved to the States when Corinne was 3 months old. “My father rented, sold and leased used station wagons, vans, motor homes; any car for traveling and sightseeing. The kind that you could go camping in, where you could see the entire United States. It was called Swiss Am Drive”, she continues. “From the European perspective, when you visit the US, you want to see the entire country. They have the train system [in Europe] so he thought of his business the way customers would want to see the US – in its entirety. The economy was so strong in Switzerland in the ‘80s and ‘90s that people were able to afford it, and so it worked out well. It was this experience that exposed Corinne to the entire US landscape, from a Swiss- American perspective. She says, “It was one of the most beautiful ways to see the United States.” After her parents closed the business, they separated shortly thereafter, and Corinne’s mother moved to Chicago, while her father moved back to Switzerland. “As a licensed massage therapist and energy healer, my mom came here for the progressive alternative healing scene in Chicago. Her whole life’s intention revolves around building a natural healing practice. She currently works with cancer patients, right after chemo, to children with A.D.D. through LaHoChi Energy Healing, and she is also a Law of Attraction coach, hosting workshops in Chicago. She continues improving lives with all that she does.” Corinne remembers how she only had immediate family in the US for holidays. “We quickly built a tie with a huge Italian family in Miami, the DeNunzio’s. They treated us like we were part of their family, inviting us on all major holidays like Thanksgiving and Easter. They were European themselves, so it was almost as though they really were our family.” While visiting family in Switzerland, Corinne recalls, “It’s amazing. You land and everybody knows you are there. You got to see every member through a sit-down meal. Breakfast at one person’s house is followed by lunch at the next family member’s house. Food and conversation are a huge part of Swiss culture, where life is dedicated to large amounts of time for deep family bonding. In many parts of the country, the father will come home from the office to meet the kids and family for lunch while the children are in school. ” Before my interview with Corinne, I honestly did not know much about Switzerland. One element of these FGA interviews I truly appreciate is the Cultural 101. Corinne shares, “Switzerland as a country is divided into four areas. Italian, French, German and this little Romanian sliver, and regardless of the location, the directions on packaging for products to street signage are written in all four languages. In the German part, you speak Swiss, but read and write in German. Swiss is a dialect that flexes depending on what Swiss part you are in. Language is big and learning another language is a mandatory part of the school system. It is a country of precision, from homes being highly clean and organized - to never being able to say you were late because the train was late. A Swiss person is simply timely and well mannered. It’s ingrained in us at an early age, because people still live in small villages where everyone knows each other’s business. There are more unspoken rules than you can count and anything that bucks the system is immediately noticed. Standards are high for everything from education to business. A Swiss product is considered a high-quality product because they do not believe in cutting corners. Everyone has a true respect and love for nature. There is a deep understanding of waste management and how to be “eco”. For example, you have to pay per garbage bag. No matter where you go, you are surrounded by nature – from the city to the countryside. The air is fresh and they work hard to maintain that delicate balance. ” Corinne attended IB German programming from 3rd to 12th grade and has a minor in German from Florida State University. “I was lucky to inherit the Swiss language from my parents, giving me a head start on my German language fundamentals. This placed me into advanced language classes early on, which consisted of endless reading, writing and translating of poems. There was a beauty to this art of translation. I mean, the way the translation made us cross-compare the German versus American cultures. It was intense and often there was no direct English translation that would capture the same meaning; both interesting and challenging.” Directly influenced by her parents successful entrepreneurial spirits, Corinne decided to combine her passions for digital marketing, design, networking, fitness and dance into her own flourishing businesses. In addition to volunteering with Connect.Inspire.Grow, and Share Your Love, Corinne runs two exciting and unique brands. v Corinne Meier is the CEO and Founder of Meier Marketing, an inbound marketing agency working with Fortune 500 companies to start-ups. Connect with Corinne at meiermarketing.com 28 revia reviamagazine.com <strong>#11</strong>, 2015
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