She's used to the raised eyebrows, the questions and the curiosity. But, Alyson Zamkoff, AS '96, isn't at all embarrassed that she's celebrating her first full year as managing editor of what, in the old days, would have been referred to as a "girlie" magazine.

Nowadays, Zamkoff's magazine, Penthouse, is more often called by another name.

"Is it pornography? Sure, parts of it," she says. "But, there's also wonderful, cutting-edge editorial content. This is not a schlocky publication and it's not anything I'm embarrassed to be associated with. Working at Penthouse has been a wonderful experience."

Zamkoff, a native of East Brunswick, N.J., came to the University of Delaware planning to major in psychology on her way to becoming a grief counselor. But, before long, she discovered a natural talent for interviewing people and writing. Zamkoff was soon on the staff of The Review, UD's student-run newspaper, working in various capacities as a columnist, reporter and editor. In fact, she met her fiance, Craig Black, AS '96, while working there.

"By the time I was a junior, I was looking for journalism internships," she recalls. "I thought The Review was the best 'classroom' I had ever been in, even though it wasn't a class at all."Still, Zamkoff says, she "needed more help to break into journalism." She applied to several magazines, including New York City-based Penthouse, which offered her a paid summer internship in 1995, between her junior and senior years. To Zamkoff, it was a way to break into big-time magazine journalism.

"People often ask me what the office is like. I think a lot of people expect to find naked women walking around or nude pictures hanging on the walls," Zamkoff says. "I was expecting the same thing when I was first interviewed. But, it isn't like that at all. It's a very discreet environment. And, to be honest, back then, my first concern was getting a job. The fact it was at Penthouse was secondary."Her first week as an intern, however, left Zamkoff feeling bored and out of place. "I was a cleaning lady for a week," she jokes. "I spent many hours cleaning out filing cabinets. It was terrible." But, her eagerness to learn led Penthouse's chief editor, Peter Bloch, to offer her a column to edit. Zamkoff's career was on its way. She was soon asked to edit a story by a prominent foreign correspondent who, she later learned, has a reputation of being a better reporter than a writer."I made all these changes to his story, so I was second guessing myself. I knew this was a famous journalist, but I thought, 'This isn't very well written...what's going on here?'" she recalls.

Still, she submitted her edited version, and Bloch was pleased with her work."From there, the opportunities just grew," she says. While there weren't any openings at Penthouse when she graduated from UD, Zamkoff was offered an editorial assistant's job at the online science and technology magazine, Omni, which was owned by Penthouse's parent company, General Media International."I stayed at Omni for 11 months and it was a great first job. I learned so much," she says of the now-defunct publication.

"It was a sinking ship, but it was a safe place for me." She was working as assistant editor at Omni when Bloch approached her with an offer to return to Penthouse magazine.It was, she says, an offer she couldn't refuse. But, Zamkoff weighed her decision to return as an employee carefully. "I knew this would follow me my entire career, my entire life," she says.After all, it is Penthouse, and there is a preconceived notion about what the magazine is. Would I, myself, want to appear in this magazine? No. Do I feel bad about the magazine? No. The women who appear in our pages [the Penthouse Pets] are not forced into anything.

This is their way of making a living and affords them opportunities they might not have had otherwise. They pose for us because they want to, plain and simple."Overall, Zamkoff says, she was "thrilled to be returning to the Penthouse fold." In 1998, she was promoted to associate managing editor, becoming managing editor in 1999.

"Like with many things in life, my climb up the ladder was as much a matter of circumstance as hard work," Zamkoff says, adding that she replaced the former managing editor, who decided not to work full-time after returning from maternity leave."So, there I was, managing editor of Penthouse at age 24," Zamkoff says. "It's an exciting and challenging position to be in."With its monthly circulation of 900,000, Penthouse is the second most popular men's magazine in the world, after Playboy.

Although considered raunchier than Playboy, in the hierarchy of the business, it's a much 'cleaner' publication than the third major player, Hustler. In addition to being the first magazine to show all-nude models in their entirety, Penthouse has the dubious distinction of being the magazine that published the nude shots of Vanessa Williams that resulted in her Miss America de-throning."Some would say that Penthouse was the best thing that ever happened to her, given all the recognition she received from the scandal," Zamkoff says.One of Zamkoff's many job responsibilities includes interviewing the Penthouse Pets for their centerfold profiles and writing the copy that accompanies their pictorials. "In the world of men's magazines, here's where my gender is a plus," she says.

"I think our models are more relaxed being interviewed and profiled by a woman."So what, exactly, does a managing editor do? Working in conjunction with the magazine's other departments, including art, advertising, typesetting and production, Zamkoff helps to make sure that Penthouse is produced in a timely, accurate fashion. "I'm responsible for the life cycle of the magazine," she explains. "I keep track of all the editorial content; I keep my hands in everything." That includes the magazine's famous "Forum" section, in which readers send in their favorite sexual experiences and fantasies. "The letters are real!" she says. "I can assure you of that."