Newly crowned Miss Texas 2024 makes history, breaks barriers

Annette Addo-Yobo thought her dream to become the next Miss Texas was a distant one… until recently. She is now the Miss Texas Scholarship Organization’s first immigrant-born Ghanaian to win the title.

Born in Ghana and raised in Canada before moving to Texas as a teenager, her path to the crown was anything but typical. Growing up, Addo-Yobo did not fit the traditional pageant mold.

“I was a tomboy most of my life,” she recalls. “The idea of being in a dress, wearing makeup, and participating in a fitness competition was a little scary at first.”

It wasn’t until her senior year of college that she decided to step into the world of pageantry. Competing in the Ms. Black and Old Gold Scholarship pageant hosted by Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., she won on her first try and placed as first runner-up at the state level. But then, COVID-19 hit, and her pageant journey abruptly ended.

“I didn’t get to do anything with my title because I graduated two months after that,” she explains. However, her interest in pageantry was piqued, and the inspiration to continue came when she witnessed a historic moment in the world of beauty pageants.

“Around that time, Nia Franklin had won Miss America, and she was a Black Miss America. We also had a Black Miss Universe, a Black Miss USA, and a Black Miss Teen USA, all at the same time. It was a big time for Black women.”

However, a significant barrier was standing in her way—she wasn’t a U.S. citizen.

“When I looked up the requirements for Miss America, I realized I had to be a U.S. citizen, and I wasn’t one at the time,” she says.

The opportunity seemed out of reach. But fate had other plans. In 2022, just one month after becoming a U.S. citizen, Addo-Yobo decided it was her time. Inspired by her friend Avery Bishop, who had won Miss Texas in 2022, she took the leap and began her journey to the crown.

The road to Miss Texas was not an easy one. Addo-Yobo faced significant financial challenges, especially during her first competition for Miss Dallas.

“I had less than $75 in my bank account, and the registration fee was about $75,” she recalls. She improvised with no evening gown, interview outfit, or money for professional hair styling. A friend paid for her registration fee, she ordered her gown from Shein, and she did her own hair. Despite the odds, she won the title.

“That just showed me that I didn’t have to have the expensive dress or the expensive hairstyle. I just had to come in authentically myself.”

As the first Ghanaian and the first immigrant to win Miss Texas, Addo-Yobo’s victory was celebrated far beyond the borders of Texas.

“My dad was sending WhatsApp news articles and chats that were starting of random Ghanaian people from everywhere wanting to support somebody they didn’t even know,” she says, reflecting on the overwhelming support from the African community. “It just made me even more proud to be where I’m from.”

Her journey also highlighted the importance of cultural humility, which is deeply ingrained in her Ghanaian heritage.

“In the Ghanaian culture, we’re always seen as very humble people. So having to go out and say, ‘Yeah, I won $40,000 plus in scholarships and look at all that I have accomplished,’ is weird to get in that mind space,” she admits.

But she remains comforted by the knowledge that an entire community is rallying behind her as she prepares to compete in Miss America.

Beyond the pageant stage, Addo-Yobo’s passion lies in advocacy, particularly for autism awareness and safety. Inspired by her nonverbal autistic brother, she founded the Spark Project, a community service initiative dedicated to educating the public about autism.

“When my brother wandered out of school and into an intersection one day, we thought we almost lost him, and neither the school nor law enforcement informed my father that he had left school. It showed me that this is not just a lack of information. This is a lack of training. Something has to be done,” she explains.

Through the Spark Project, she aims to develop a law enforcement safety training program to better equip officers in handling situations involving children on the autism spectrum.

Looking to the future, Addo-Yobo is set on winning the Miss America crown.

“We haven’t had a winner from Texas in 50 years, and we haven’t had an immigrant win the crown in 40 years,” she says. She would become only the second immigrant to win Miss America if she succeeded. But her ambitions don’t stop there.

After her reign, she plans to attend law school, become the first attorney in her family, and eventually run for public office.

“I think we need more representation in office and more females in office as well,” she says, adding that she wants to be a voice for those seeking common-sense reform and legislation.

Addo-Yobo offers simple yet profound advice to young women aspiring to follow in her footsteps: “Be yourself and believe in your work. The reason I won was because I was authentically myself.”