staff bios

Kelly Garrett, Owner/President and Chief Designer

Photo courtesy of Jamie Schultz Photography.

The idea behind Ekcetera Productions was created in 2003 by its Owner and Chief Designer, Kelly Garrett. Ekcetera was built on a dream Kelly had after receiving multiple requests from family and friends to do various craft and design projects. She has always enjoyed designing and creating things from nothing. This passion carried over in her desire to start a business of her own.

Kelly founded Ekcetera while attending the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks to earn her Bachelor of Business Administration degree in 2003. Her major was information systems and she had a minor in music.

Shortly after graduating from UND, Kelly jumped into graduate school and completed an M.B.A. from the University of St. Thomas, Minneapolis, MN in 2006. During her graduate study, she agressively worked on establishing Ekcetera's foundation.

Kelly enjoys music, scrapbooking, photography, dancing, interior design, travel, and especially time with her family. She lives with her husband, Dan in Inver Grove Heights, MN.

Vanessa Olson, Graphic Designer

Vanessa graduated from Winona State University in December of 2006. There she achieved a Bachelor of Arts degree with a concentration in Graphic Design and a minor in Mass Communication.  With her minor, she is able to explore the world of photography.

She is very passionate about design and enjoys the challenges that come along with it.  From a young age, Vanessa realized design was something she wanted to do after playing around with Photohop on her first family computer. "It's a dream of mine to actually be developing a career in something I enjoy so much."

Vanessa also enjoy interior decorating, tennis, music, painting, vintage, coffee table books and art.