VIDEO: Annette Addo-Yobo crowned Miss Texas 2024, first Ghanaian to win title
By winning the Miss Texas 2024 title, Annette Addo-Yobo will receive US$20,000 in scholarship money and will represent Texas in the Miss America contest
Annette Addo-Yobo of North Texas has been crowned Miss Texas 2024.
The Miss Texas beauty pageant commenced Saturday night at the Charles W Eisemann Centre for Performing Arts in Richardson.
Over the weekend, Annette Addo-Yobo became the first immigrant-born and the first Ghanaian to win the title of Miss Texas.
Addo-Yobo was born in Ghana but was raised in Canada and the United States. She studied at the University of Texas at Dallas and in 2020 earned her Bachelor’s degree in psychology.
In a “Miss Southlake” account post, she describes how she “lost out on many opportunities as a teenager and college student” due to her citizenship status. It wasn’t until 2022 that she received US citizenship.
In an Instagram post, Addo-Yobo says she is “humbled, honoured and grateful” to be the 87th Miss Texas and hopes to “continue making history with the Texas community and the Miss Texas class”.
By winning the Miss Texas 2024 competition, Addo-Yobo will receive US$20,000 in scholarship money and will represent Texas in the Miss America contest.
Addo-Yobo competed as Miss Southlake this year but previously held the title of Miss Dallas in 2023.
Annette Addo-Yobo used the pageant’s talent contest to shed light on a cause near and dear to her. Her spoken word performance was just the latest show of her commitment to promoting autism awareness — a cause which first touched her heart as a child.
“I want to bring autism safety, awareness and education to the front lines of our programming and our legislation. My younger brother Andrew was diagnosed on the spectrum when he was age four. And as an immigrant to this country, he had a large learning curve to overcome,” said Addo-Yobo.
It seems winning the pageant has only boosted Addo-Yobo’s motivation to use her platform, the SPARK Project, which addresses the structural inequities she has witnessed her brother Andrew face in various spaces.
“As a sibling to someone on the spectrum, I noticed the systemic inequities and lack of education and training very early,” Addo-Yobo continued in her Instagram post.
“It is my mission to amplify the voices of the autistic community and ensure that legislators, decision-makers and community members see us and fight for us.”
