And as other area newspapers went out of business, freeing up many male sportswriters, Steel knew it was time for a different job.
At this time, a new girlie magazine was starting up. Steel interviewed and was hired by Bob Guccione to work for Penthouse. Steel recalled Guccione as someone who "supported women's rights ... long before it was fashionable to do so." Penthouse was a company that consistently promoted women to positions of responsibility, and Steel had an opportunity to try many different roles--from receptionist to editor to interviewer. One of the most important lessons she learned while working at Penthouse was the importance of "taking whatever job you do seriously and doing it better than everyone else." Eventually she was promoted to head of merchandising.
During her Penthouse years, Steel met and married her first husband, Ronald Richard Rothstein. Rothstein and Steel formed a business as well as personal partnership, and soon Entrepreneuse Enterprises, Inc. was up and running. In 1976 Entrepreneuse Enterprises introduced the world to designer toilet paper, ripping off Gucci in the process. Gucci sued and the case dragged on for a couple of years before settling out of court.
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