Inside SoundCloud's inspirational workspace(s)

Inspiration
By published

SoundCloud’s Diana Kimball shares the working essentials that help her transform any space into an office.

One of the best things about my work is that I can do it from anywhere. That's good, because the nature of my job means that I'm always on the go. I travel frequently to SoundCloud's offices in New York, San Francisco and London. Even within our new global headquarters in Berlin, I move around a lot.

I find that the more I switch up my environment, the more serendipitous conversations I end up having. I've discovered that the best place to run into people, by far, is the communal kitchen in the heart of our Berlin HQ.

Tools of my trade

Since I'm always on the go, it's important to keep my workspace compact and portable. My MacBook Pro is the one tool I couldn't do without.

Diana Kimball leads something of a nomadic lifestyle, moving between SoundClound offices

Diana Kimball leads something of a nomadic lifestyle, moving between SoundClound offices

I carry it everywhere in a compact-yet-roomy InCase messenger bag – very Mary Poppins. Urbanears headphones pipe the sounds of my favourite SoundCloud artists straight into my ears – here, I'm listening to a bit of Ben Johnson.

To stay hydrated, I carry around a water bottle from Tesla Motors – the electric car company. Elon Musk, Tesla's founder, is an entrepreneur I look up to for his intense ambition and dedication to investing in the future.

Cooking up ideas

I don't go anywhere without a notebook and pen, and I'm always happier when I have my ampersand stamp nearby. Finally, there's my origami paper – it is the perfect portable pastime.

Sitting in the kitchen, I get to help build SoundCloud's future while keeping its roots firmly in view. We've covered one of the walls in five years' worth of photographs which tell the story of SoundCloud's evolution from a group of people working together in a café to a slightly larger group of people working in an office with a café of our own, with 12 hours of audio uploaded to SoundCloud every minute.

Words: Diana Kimball

Diana Kimball is a content manager at SoundCloud soundcloud.com. She is based in Berlin but hops between SoundCloud’s international offices. Follow her on Twitter at @dianakimball.

Like this? Read these!

Thank you for reading 5 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Join now for unlimited access

Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

TOPICS
Creative Bloq Staff
Creative Bloq Staff
All things Creative Bloq

The Creative Bloq team is made up of a group of art and design enthusiasts, and has changed and evolved since Creative Bloq began back in 2012. The current website team consists of eight full-time members of staff: Editor Georgia Coggan, Deputy Editor Rosie Hilder, Ecommerce Editor Beren Neale, Senior News Editor Daniel Piper, Editor, Digital Art and 3D Ian Dean, Tech Reviews Editor Erlingur Einarsson, Ecommerce Writer Beth Nicholls and Staff Writer Natalie Fear, as well as a roster of freelancers from around the world. The ImagineFX magazine team also pitch in, ensuring that content from leading digital art publication ImagineFX is represented on Creative Bloq.