She was born Douglas Mitchell Hunter in Kansas City and moved to New York in 1970. She became known as Wilhelmina Ross and performed with Hot Peaches, the influential drag theatre company founded by Jimmy Camicia. Her stage name apparently combined Wilhelmina, the famous modelling agency, with Diana Ross, whom Warhol admired. In 1975, Warhol began his famous Ladies and Gentlemen series. The project focused on drag queens and trans women from New York's nightlife scene. Warhol's collaborators recruited performers from places such as the Gilded Grape, a nightclub frequented by New York's queer community. Warhol then photographed them at the Factory using Polaroid cameras. Ross was unusual among the models because she already knew about Warhol and his world. She and Marsha P. Johnson had both performed with Hot Peaches.