Nashom Wooden, also known as drag queen Mona Foot, has died from COVID-19.

“This virus has taken our dear Nashom Wooden, a.k.a. Mona Foot. Part of our New York nightlife family,” club king Mario Diaz wrote on Facebook. “A beautiful gorgeous creature, an amazing artist and a friend for 25+ years. When I think of you I will always see that beautiful smile. When I think of you I will always remember the powerhouse that was Mona Foot! Our years together at The Cock. Things feel very real right now. Please stay home and stay safe. We love you Nashom… always and forever.”

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Wooden found success when he began performing in 1989 as Mona Foot, but he told NewNowNext’s Michael Musto he had “hung up the heels” in recent years, instead working at infamous New York nightclub The Cock.

“No one took me under their wing,” Wooden told Musto in a 2017 interview for Paper. “I learned makeup from RuPaul. We did a show off-Broadway called My Pet Homo and she taught me a few things.”

Wooden also found success outside of his work as Mona, performing in the electro-dance trio The Ones, who scored a hit with their 2001 track “Flawless,” which George Michael later sampled.





Mona was famous for dressing as Wonder Woman, and Wooden said it became “intoxicating” to perform as the Amazonian princess.

“I could see the power of it,” he said. “No one saw that coming. To be not only a superhero, to be black and a man. I didn’t realize at the time I was feminine. The message was so powerful, performing ’I’m Every Woman’ as Wonder Woman.”

Wooden stopped stomping the stage as Mona years ago but brought her out of retirement for the 2018 revival of Wigstock—where he dressed as Wonder Woman, serving it to the children so hard he lost his wig mid-performance.

Geoffrey Mac, winner of the most recent season of Project Runway, posted an emotional tribute to Nashom, telling viewers to take COVID-19 seriously: “I lost my best friend today from the coronavirus. I just want to make sure everyone out there stays healthy and takes care of each other because the virus is real.”

Other nightlife personalities including DJ Lina Bradford, Marti Gould Cummings, Justin Vivian Bond, and a slew of RuPaul’s Drag Race girls also shared their condolences and heartbroken messages on social media.

New York nightlife will be darker without you, Nashom. Rest in peace.





