Biography…

Wendy Reardon grew up in Hanover, MA, graduated from Hanover High in 1989, and then earned her BA in professional writing from Emerson College in 1993. During college she worked as a professional hand model for such companies as Hasbro, New England Telephone, Nordstrom, and Burns of Boston. After college Wendy moved to Los Angeles where she worked in production on Warner Brother’s Animaniacs and Batman: The Animated Series.

She then moved on to Hanna-Barbera cartoons, where she worked in development, and began freelance animation writing for a variety of cartoons including DIC’s Action Man, Universal Cartoon’s Savage Dragon, and Nickelodeon’s CatDog, among others. During this time she also was the casting assistant for the Weird Al Yankovic Show, and, following that, became an exotic dancer. After two years she decided it was time for a new challenge, so she moved to England and in just one year earned her Masters in Medieval History from the University of Reading. Wendy's book, "The Deaths of the Popes", can now be ordered here from Amazon books and here from McFarland & Company. The price is $75.

Wendy is the Exclusive Analyst for WHDH TV Channel 7, the NBC Boston affiliate and has been consulted and interviewed in the print media by numerous outlets. She has also been interviewed on WRKO radio, 680 AM, on both the Howie Carr and Claprood and Whitley shows.

Click here to see a video clip of Wendy's recent interview with Jim Braude on NECN (New England Cable News) Scroll down to "Pole Dancing Teacher on Papal History".

Wendy has also been consulted by:

• New York Times
• Washington Post
• The Associated Press
• Ottowa Citizen
• Miami Herald
• Boston Globe
• Patriot Ledger
• Weymouth News

Click HERE for a colorful Boston Globe interview with Wendy that details her role as papal historian. And click HERE for a recent Washington Post article with commentary by Wendy.

Click here for the latest Patriot Ledger article about Wendy and her other role as Papal historian and author!
or go to:
http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2005/01/24/life/life01.txt

Wendy also is a papal scholar and gives periodic tours in Rome based on her book The Deaths of the Popes: Comprhensive Accounts Including Funerals, Burial Places, and Epitaphs (McFarland 2004).

Wendy is also the author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Exotic and Pole Dancing, which is now available! Click on the book to order from Amazon.com!

She lives in Quincy with her mischievous pet rats...

Dancing…

Wendy’s dancing career began when she was laid off from Hanna-Barbera Cartoons in Los Angeles. She needed a job that was flexible, yet offered some form of exercise. Luckily in Los Angeles there is a phenomenon called Bikini Dancing Bars, which are strip clubs but the girls only go down to their bikinis. Wendy started at Snooky’s in Ventura, promising herself it would only be for three months. She did indeed leave after three months, but came back within the next three. The money was too good to give up, and she actually enjoyed the dancing. While working at Ventura Snooky’s, she began working at Simi Valley Snooky’s and PJ’s (also a bikini bar owned by the same people). Eventually she worked for Oxnard Snooky’s as well over the next two years. In England, Wendy needed an income while going to Graduate School at the University of Reading, so she was hired by the Rainbow Agency, a dance agency that placed girls in different pubs all over London. It was in London where Wendy really honed her dancing skills. Upon her return to the States, Wendy danced for four months at the Satin Doll in Providence, which is a form of bikini bar. She left, however, because girls made their money from full-contact lap dancing, which is truly repulsive. But Wendy missed the dancing. She missed the costumes, the music, the creativity…so she pitched an Exotic Dance class to the Boston Center for Adult Education. They jumped on the idea and Wendy’s first round of classes were wait-listed. She taught there for three semesters (the last round wait-listed as well) then opened her own studio, "Gypsy Rose Exotic & Pole Dancing", where she only allows up to five women per class so that each woman LEARNS the skill and she can devote her individual attention to each student.

Wendy's unique class has been the focus of special features in the Patriot Ledger (June 03), The Boston Globe (July 03), the Boston Globe South (July 03), and "Living Well" (a special section of the Patriot Ledger focusing on health--July 04)."