I’m the Marketing Director at Plugable Technologies. Over the past five years, I’ve built a small but mighty 15-person marketing team from the ground up.
I launched more than thirty successful products on Amazon globally and have recently started expanding my expertise into the B2B e-commerce space.
One month after graduating from UW Foster Business School with a degree in Marketing, the start-up that hired me let me go for financial reasons.
A marketing director Katie Eckstrom has been working from home since the pandemic began
I started applying for every marketing-related job I could find. My first interview was with a small tech e-commerce company.
The founder hired me and gave me a shot to be their first marketing employee ever. Six months in, he asked me if I wanted to build a team, and the rest is history.
I’m married to my high school sweetheart. We’ve lived in three different states (CA, WA, and NJ) and six different apartments/houses.
We spend our time outside of work travelling, fishing, doing road trips, having BBQs, and cooking at home.
We’ve had a few English bulldogs over the years, including the one who had five puppies!
Katie’s workspace is centred around the standing desk. It boosts her productivity and helps to feel healthier
I’ve had many people bet on me in my career, and I try to do the same for others.
I love learning and talking about all things marketing, tech, and business, so feel free to connect!
Getting my workspace to where it is now has been a journey.
I went from full-time in the office to abruptly working from home in 2020 like so many others.
I worked from a dining room table for almost two years before deciding to invest in a setup.
I think it took me a long time to actually put together a desk setup because one, desk equipment is not cheap, and two, I thought what I was working with was good enough.
Little did I know how much more happy and productive I’d be once I actually created a space that worked for me.
While building her WFH desk setup, Katie adopted the philosophy of “less is more”
When I decided to start planning my dream workspace, I knew that I wanted a clean yet functional space.
Therefore, I started with my MacBook Pro and needed to decide what was everything I wanted to connect around it so I could be as productive as possible.
This meant extending my screen real estate to at least one large monitor and connecting all of my other peripherals like my Apple keyboard, mouse, and hard drives.
She put together her minimal desk setup after two years of working from a dining table
Having an ergonomic setup that would allow me to enjoy the apartment views was also important to me.
Investing in a standing desk was probably one of the best decisions I made.
Now when I’m feeling stiff (usually around 3 pm), I raise my desk up, and I’m able to move a bit, which I’ve found also helps with cognitive ergonomics.
I now look forward to my work days when I have my morning coffee while watching the boats go by on the Hudson River and catching up on emails and new reads.
Then usually having a full day of meetings and spending the late afternoons/evenings working on projects from a workspace I enjoy.
I’ve never felt more productive and happy working at a desk.
The Miro board featuring all the main items in her desk setup
What’s your favourite item on your desk?
In order to achieve a workspace that is functional and visually appealing, a docking station is a must-have item.
Docking stations feature multiple ports. They allow you to connect all your devices using a single cable to your laptop. It often comes in handy for cable management
I picked out the Plugable Thunderbolt 3 Dual Display Dock because it was compatible with my MacBook Pro, gave me access to 14 more ports, and offered 100W laptop charging.
I also liked that it was future proof so if I wanted to upgrade my laptop, add an extra display (HDMI or DisplayPort), or upgrade to a 4K display the dock would still support it.
Because of the Plugable dock, I’m now able to simultaneously work across multiple screens, connect all my peripherals, keep everything charged, and master cable management.
If you want a clean and productive setup, a dock is the secret.
Self-gripping cable ties keep cables and wires under control
What apps or tools do you use to get things done?
I pretty much live and breathe the Google Suite for everything day-to-day.
I like it because it’s super easy to keep everything connected and functioning together.
