We are delighted to welcome marketing and communications expert Corina Hoch to today’s FemalExperts Role Model Interview.
Corina is not only an absolute expert in the fields of: B2B strategy, PR and branding, she is one of the entrepreneurs who took the bold step of going abroad. In concrete terms, this means that she left Germany, took the big leap across the pond to Mexico and built up her own business there step by step, far away from familiar structures but close to her own values. Today, she lives and works between continents, cultures and markets and supports companies and self-employed people in gaining clarity, making decisions and strategically building their visibility.
Her journey is not a classic emigration tale, but a story about responsibility, self-management and entrepreneurial courage. About the moment when you realize that freedom does not mean working less, but making more conscious decisions and that success lies not only in building a business, but in creating a life that suits your own attitude.
1 Corina, you left Germany and set up your life and business in Mexico. Was there a particular moment when you felt that now was the time to really change my life?
Before Mexico, it was certainly the various events that happened around me. Some of my closest friends and relatives unfortunately passed away very young and I remember very clearly that they all had the same wish: “When I retire, then…” That showed me that nobody knows how long we’ll be here, so I decided to fulfill my dream right away: A life in the sun, with the sea on my doorstep in a Spanish-speaking foreign country. At the time, however, I didn’t realize that it would one day be Mexico.
At first, it was just the physical change, the personal change came much later. Over the past ten years, I have attended many different training courses, from social media manager, online marketing manager, practical SEO and GEO topics and strategic marketing to alternative practitioner for psychotherapy, grief counselor, psychological counselor and holistic mental health counselor. Today I know that if we really want to be visible and successful on the outside (our business), we must first give ourselves permission to do so on the inside. It is precisely this combination of strategic marketing and the psychological freedom to shape your own life now that is the core of my work today.
2. many people dream of emigrating, but only a few actually take this step. What was the biggest inner challenge for you and what helped you to stick with it, even when things got difficult?
Actually, there was no such thing. It was clear to me: I’m going and it will work. The biggest challenge was the cultural and bureaucratic integration. I had studied Spanish at school, but it wasn’t enough to really communicate, so I went back to language school. Then there was the visa process, which kept making me anxious: What if they wouldn’t give me the visa this time? Salvation only came with the permanent visa.
Mexico has always been very friendly and helpful to me, I felt very welcome and at home right from the start. Even at the airport when I returned to Mexico, I was always greeted with “Bienvenidos a Casa!” Nobody has ever said that to me at German airports.
It was a different story at business level. I knew that it would work, but I wanted to prove it to everyone and show that I was even better in Mexico than in the office. Unfortunately, this self-imposed pressure to perform meant that I almost ended up in a burnout. Did it still work out? Yes absolutely, Mexico is my most successful time.
3. in your work you combine marketing, communication and mental clarity. Why do you think that inner clarity is so often underestimated in entrepreneurship?
Everyone knows the feeling: a task is incredibly enjoyable, you forget the time and achieve outstanding results almost effortlessly. When this inner clarity is present, all sides benefit. As employees, we are happier and more motivated, employers see their goals (over)fulfilled, and as solopreneurs, this is exactly how we attract the right clients.
Pure marketing is often just a technique, it is the “what” and “how”. Inner clarity, i.e. the psychological level, on the other hand, provides us with the decisive “why”. Strategic clarity is only created when the two come together: the strategy only becomes credible on the outside when it has a solid foundation on the inside.
4. female empowerment is often associated with courage or visibility. In contrast, you often talk about responsibility and clarity. What does female empowerment mean to you personally?
I was lucky enough to grow up with the belief: “You can achieve anything you can imagine, you just have to really want it.” Of course, that still drives me today (Corina laughs). For me, female empowerment means standing up for yourself unconditionally, not hiding and believing in yourself and your own vision.
Mexico and remote work sounds exciting and sounds like freedom to many, but this lifestyle comes with a lot of responsibility. Since many of my clients are often ten hours away from me by plane, this only works with extreme discipline, expertise, trust and organization, a certain assertiveness and a quick mind.
While others may have the whole morning to prepare for a spontaneously scheduled meeting at 2 p.m. (CET), my working day often starts directly with this appointment. I have to ramp up my systems – internally and externally – to 100 percent in just a few minutes.
For me, female empowerment means:
Be yourself and trust in your abilities. For me, gender roles and cultural differences are often just pretextual explanations to avoid taking a clear position.
5 You live and work between two cultures. What lessons from this intercultural life have shaped your thinking and your business the most?
At first glance, of course, it’s the linguistic challenges. I switch between three languages every day: I communicate 90 percent in German in the office, 90 percent in English at home and 90 percent in Spanish in everyday life. This fundamentally changes the way you communicate. You think more consciously about the words you choose and whether they really express what you want to say.
And it’s the many little things that show me every day where my strengths and weaknesses lie and how I can use this expertise for my customers. The German language and culture are very direct, which has many advantages because you always know where you stand. In Mexico, on the other hand, you have to read between the lines much more often. Consciously integrating this intercultural sensitivity and my own understanding of values into my business was probably my biggest aha moment. I realized that professionalism and efficiency are not the antithesis of personal freedom and curiosity, but rather their foundation. Only through clear structures and honest communication can I create the freedom to work independently of location and self-determinedly without losing quality. This combination of German precision and Mexican adaptability is an important part of me today.
6. many women start their business with passion, but at some point get lost between demands, expectations and perfectionism. In your experience, what are the most common mistakes that female entrepreneurs make?
The biggest mistake is believing that everything has to be perfect before you start. If you have a vision, then go out and become visible! Marketing is a continuous process of testing and optimizing. If you don’t start, you won’t get results and if you don’t have results, you can’t learn anything.
Many cool ideas remain in the drawer because the fear of making mistakes is greater than the courage to be visible. Do I sometimes have the feeling that I haven’t solved something perfectly? Yes of course! The crucial point is the realization from this. Success does not come from being flawless, but from the ability to make quick adjustments and do things differently next time. In marketing, perfectionism is often just a disguise for the fear of rejection.
7. not only have you built a new life for yourself, you have also developed a clear positioning. How important was it for your success to develop your own attitude rather than just an “offer”?
I have never defined myself and my work solely in terms of an offer. It was much more important for me to focus on my own priorities and the actual added value for my customers. If we work together or talk on the phone and you get absolutely nothing out of it, I’ve missed my target.
I don’t do off-the-shelf marketing and I don’t sell a golden guru rule for quick success.
I look and listen to who you really are and what your business needs on a deep level. I offer the strategic map and the psychological support, you then decide how far you want to go on this path.
8. your business is heavily based on strategic communication and B2B marketing. What are the biggest mistakes that companies and self-employed people make in their visibility today?
The biggest mistake is pure actionism: wanting to be present on all channels at the same time without strategically coordinating content. Many people today believe that AI delivers perfect results at the touch of a button, making specialist knowledge superfluous. The opposite is the case.
Yes, we have to be faster and more present today, because customers no longer just search via Google. But you can only afford ten social media channels if you have the right team behind them. AI tools are an excellent support, but they are no substitute for expertise. They need to be trained, managed and strategically embedded.
Marketing is not a side project, any more than sales or finance. My tip for self-employed people: stop chasing after every trend. Instead, ask yourselves radically honest questions: Where are my customers really looking for my solutions? Focus beats reach every time.
9. you are not only an entrepreneur, but also an author in our FemalExperts online magazine and a source of inspiration for topics such as remote work, self-management and working between cultures. What do you want to achieve with your work in the long term?
My favorite question! (Corina smiles). I want to bring about real empowerment through knowledge. Especially as a solopreneur, you juggle many tasks at the same time, often with limited resources. If you decide to hire external people for SEO or marketing, I want to give my clients the necessary foundation to be able to assess the quality of this work. It’s no use if something is technically implemented that doesn’t match your own positioning or keywords.
At the same time, I would like to pass on my knowledge from over 20 years of marketing and SEO as well as my expertise in GEO (AI-based search engines) to all those who want to get started themselves. As my time is also limited, my heart often bleeds when I have to turn down requests due to capacity constraints.
My aim is therefore to support my clients’ personal development as well as their professional development. Not everyone has grown up with the mindset of being able to achieve everything. Especially here in Mexico, I meet so many talented individuals who don’t yet fully believe in themselves, and this is exactly where I want to provide support. In the short term, I solve this through time-independent workshops; in the medium term, my goal is to establish retreats to work holistically on the connection between strategy and inner strength.
10. when you look back on your journey from a (supposedly) safe environment in Germany to an international business, what was the bravest step you ever took?
The most courageous step was the decision to openly communicate that I combine marketing and psychology. This combination feels absolutely right to me and the feedback from my customers is consistently positive.
For me, taking this step meant consciously eliminating inner resistance and the fear of being judged. I had to learn to trust my own expertise, even if my path didn’t fit into any classic grid.
11 And on a personal note: What does success mean to you today, after all the changes, decisions and new beginnings?
For me, success means accompanying other people on their journey and seeing them surpass themselves. It deeply fulfills me when my clients celebrate their own successes through the combination of strategy and inner clarity. When I see how genuine self-confidence and visible growth emerge from insecurity, it is the best confirmation of my work.
Dear Corina, thank you for sharing your journey with us so openly.
Your story makes it clear that it doesn’t take perfect timing to start something new, but rather belief in yourself and a willingness to take responsibility for your own life.
Thank you so much, dear Kinga, for allowing me to share my story here. I hope to encourage some of you to follow your own path – however individual it may be – with confidence and clarity.
About the author
Kinga Bartczak advises, coaches and writes on female empowerment, new work culture, organizational development, systemic coaching and personal branding. She is also the managing director of UnternehmerRebellen GmbH and publisher of the FemalExperts magazine .
