Southlake and Ghana’s Annette Addo-Yobo was named First Runner-Up at the 2025 Miss America Pageant on January 5.
Annette has previously been named Miss Dallas, Miss Southlake, and, in 2024, Miss Texas.
To compete for the vaunted title of Miss America, she was the first immigrant born outside of America to win the title of Miss Texas after becoming an American citizen a few years ago.
After moving from Ghana to Maryland and then Canada, her family settled in the metropolitan Dallas area, where she graduated from high school; she won Miss Southlake on her way to the Miss Texas crown.
She was also the first woman to compete in the statewide pageant and to have won.
Related stories
Also, she said her pageant victories were a kind of ‘thank you’ to her parents, who Addo-Yobo said “left everything behind in Ghana” so she and her brother could have a better life in America.
As Miss Texas, Addo-Yobo’s platform focuses on autism awareness in honor of her non-verbal brother, who she said is on the spectrum.
In addition to Annette’s advocacy work, she has helped to raise money for autism awareness and traveled to Washington, D.C., to urge Congress to pass H.R. 7213, the Autism CARES Act of 2024, which was signed into law by President Biden on December 23, 2024.
The bill reauthorizes programs that support autism education and research.
Addo-Yodo might not have won the top prize, because Miss Alabama Abbie Stockard, 22, was crowned Miss America at the event in Orlando.
Following the night’s results, Miss Texas has surely won the hearts of many who have followed her journey with a look that is not the typical conventional beauty queen’s look, such as rocking her natural short hair.
