Nashom Wooden | |
---|---|
Born | [1]
Brooklyn, New York City, New York, U.S. | October 9, 1969
Died | March 23, 2020
New York City, New York, U.S. | (aged 50)
Nationality | American |
Other names | Mona Foot |
Occupation | Performing artist |
Nashom Benjamin Wooden (October 9, 1969 – March 23, 2020) was an American performing artist. Wooden was a member of the electronic dance music band The Ones and performed as a drag queen under the stage name Mona Foot.
Wooden was born in October 1969 and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and entered the New York nightlife scene as a Club Kid in the mid-1980s. [2] By 1989, he worked in Manhattan running the men's clothing department at Patricia Field's boutique while developing the drag queen persona Mona Foot with his friend and former roommate Lady Bunny. [3] [4] Wooden credits RuPaul as an early mentor; RuPaul taught Wooden how to apply makeup, and both appeared in an off-Broadway play titled My Pet Homo. [2] As Mona Foot, Wooden hosted the weekly drag competition "Mona Foot's Star Search" at the New York gay bar Barracuda, cited by The New York Times as a likely inspiration for the television series RuPaul's Drag Race. [3]
In 1997, Wooden began to work as a bartender and DJ at The Cock, a gay bar. [2] [5] In 1999, he appeared in drag in the comedy-drama film Flawless. Along with JoJo Americo and Paul Alexander as the music group The Ones, Wooden co-wrote and performed the 2001 song "Flawless", which peaked at #4 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart, #7 in the United Kingdom, and #2 in Belgium. [3] [6] Later in his life, Wooden began to perform less frequently as Mona Foot, stating that "it just kind of fizzled out. I stopped taking gigs." [2] Wooden gave his final performance as Mona Foot in 2018, where he revived the character for that year's Wigstock to perform as Wonder Woman. [7]
Wooden was HIV-positive, though he had an undetectable viral load. [3] On March 23, 2020, Wooden died at the age of 50 as a result of complications from a suspected case of COVID-19 in New York, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City. [3] [5] He was buried at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. [5]