When Kari (Eklund) Logan ’82 agreed to assist a client in raising public awareness of the value of trees, she decided to hang huge price tags on the trees in the front yard of Minnesota’s State Capitol. The client, the Minnesota DNR’s Division of Forestry, was pleased. In fact, the rush of media attention that followed resulted in the act’s replication by foresters across the country and even other parts of the world.
At CEL Public Relations (Plymouth, Minn.), where Logan heads up the media relations team, capturing the public’s imagination is the norm. With eight years’ prior experience in TV news and programming (WCCO-TV and KSTP-TV), Logan is well-connected and can pull out all the stops (websites, newsletters, TV coverage, campaigns, and numerous other marketing communications) in order to assist CEL clients. Primarily a writer, she especially enjoys the diversity of subjects that cross her desk every day, including CEL’s signature areas of service—education, urban forestry, financial services, and the arts.
Having joined the firm in 1990, when it was only two years old, Logan has helped increase awareness in numerous areas, including pregnancy and infant loss, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and eldercare. She has worked and dined with famous chefs, including Ina Garten and Andrew Zimmern. In 1993 she became a partner in the firm.
When she isn’t writing, you may find her singing in a theatrical production. Logan recalls her first visit to Augsburg, as a junior high student, to see Godspell with her older sister, Lori (Eklund) Quello ’77, then a student at Augsburg. That night, Logan knew she “had to be part of Augsburg Theater.”
Indeed, she made it happen! She recalls the joy of learning from Professors Ailene Cole and Julie Bolton (“phenomenal”), and learning to be creative and resourceful, particularly given the run-down theater facilities and lesser resources available at that time. Her Augsburg experience (double major in Theater and Communications) opened the doors of opportunity, she says, and provided numerous connections to professional theater. Over the years, she has performed at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival and at various professional theater companies. Though her performances have been less frequent in recent years due to the demands of her job, she still has a passion for acting.
In her spare time, Logan participates in AWE (Augsburg Women Engaged), as the organization works to develop opportunities for Auggie alumnae and current students to connect with, learn from, and give to each other and their alma mater. Plenty busy already, Logan finds that time spent with this “dynamic and inspiring multigenerational group of women” is time well spent. As the AWE women try to get at the heart of important matters, such as how to balance work, marriage, motherhood, and grandparenting, they have realized that, in trying to do so many things, many women may feel they don’t do any of them particularly well. Those AWE conversations have resulted in their partnering with the Augsburg Associates to sponsor an event on May 9, “Our Stories Rewrite the Rules” (part of the Am I Measuring Up? series). Register here. Logan hopes that Auggie women of all ages will attend, bring a friend, and get a glimpse into the life stories of other Auggie women through music, art, drama, writing, and the spoken word—and that, together, the group will come to a better understanding of how women can find peace and confidence in measuring up amid life’s challenges and rewards.
Logan, who lives in Falcon Heights, says her favorite hobby is spending time with her husband Ian and daughter Britt, who is following in Logan’s PR footsteps, serving as Press Secretary for a U.S. Senator from Illinois.
—By Cheryl Crockett ‘89