SAN FRANCISCO — Boston-based InkHouse Media + Marketing has hired former Waggener Edstrom SVP Annemiek Hamelinck to lead its new San Francisco operation.

This is InkHouse’s first foray beyond the Boston area since its founding in 2007. The PR and content marketing boutique took in $6.7 million last year with just under 50 people.

“We opened the San Francisco office to serve the needs of a number of clients with a presence in [in the area], as well as to tap into the market out there,” said Beth Monaghan, co-founder and principal at InkHouse.

The firm’s clients range from big names like Raytheon, GE, Spark Capital and Nuance to startups like Swirl, Core, Localytics and Fiksu.

For many East Coast firms - especially those with deep tech roots - expanding into San Francisco is highly coveted. Yet, newcomers often face challenges breaking into the closely-networked market.

“We are going in with our eyes wide open and understood from the outset that we'd need someone entrenched in the San Francisco community,” Monaghan said, adding that two “foundational team members” are also part of the West Coast office to bring cultural continuity.

Before joining InkHouse last month, Hamelinck spent more than six years at Waggener Edstrom working on clients that include Mercedes-Benz USA, Microsoft and Teleflex. She left the firm last November as an SVP. She has also worked at Bite Communications and the Antenna Group.