After Helen's father died in 1918 from the Spanish flu, Helen went to work at Lorain Electric Light and Power Company. She learned how to decorate lamp shades, write advertisements, sales and bookkeeping. Helen soon became an excellent public speaker and was known as the "Lorain Tornado". By the time she was 25, she was a nationally known speaker on feminism and the public service industry. In 1927, Helen started her own speaker's bureau, known as the "Steiner Service" which operated out of Lorain.