We’ve been publishing profiles from our Women Leaders in PR series on Wednesdays. But we thought it only fitting that this week, we add our latest installment on International Women’s Day. Happy happy everyone!

Today, we profile Liz Kaplow, CEO and president of Kaplow PR. With 65 staffers and two offices (New York and San Francisco), Kaplow is not the biggest firm on the block. But the company has worked with some big names across beauty, fashion, and consumer PR like Target, Skype, Laura Mercier, and St. Ives.

We talked with Kaplow about storytelling, how to build a career, and how to deal with the occasional — and inevitable — obstacle.

Read more

Spanish telecomm company Telefónica Digital is looking for a global PR firm, Holmes Report says. The company was formed last year and is looking to expand in the cloud computing, e-health, and mobile advertising spaces. They’re looking for a firm with digital expertise and the ability to work internationally.

GYMR Public Relations has announced its end-of-the-year account wins, which includes the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation, the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute, the Institute for Health Technology Studies, and about a half dozen other companies. The firm is doubling in size in the Washington D.C. office this year.

Read more

Last October, Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley told PRNewser that his fast growing location-based service had no need for a PR agency — or much of a marketing team at all, for that matter — because “PR pretty much takes care of itself.” As recently as this past June, Crowley said having a publicist would be “overkill.”

Just this week, however, Foursquare hired Kaplow PR, a mid-sized firm known in technology circles mostly for their work as PR agency of record for Skype. It seems like a smart move, and could be the clearest sign yet that Foursquare has “grown up” and is more ready than ever to go mainstream.

Read more

Foursquare has selected Kaplow PR as AOR, providing media relations and messaging services and executing an education campaign about the uses of the application. Foursquare didn’t issue an RFP, but selected Kaplow out of a group of seven agencies, Foursquare PR manager Erin Gleason told PRWeek.

Gleason went on to say that the firm was chosen for its history with tech and consumer PR. Kaplow also opened a West coast office in June, and the East coast/West coast capability played a role in their selection. Nissa Anklesaria, an SVP with Kaplow, said this is one of the first clients that the firm has “brought on board to leverage both offices.”

Read more