Crowning achievement

Southlake woman makes history as first U.S. immigrant to win Miss Texas

Annette Addo-Yobo was crowned Miss Texas 2024 by Ellie Breaux, Miss Texas 2023.

Facebook/Miss Texas 2023

Annette Addo-Yobo, a 26-year-old woman born in Ghana, was crowned Miss Texas 2024, becoming the first United States immigrant to earn the title.

Addo-Yobo represented Southlake in the statewide scholarship pageant, held Saturday, June 29 at the Eisemann Center for Performing Arts in Richardson and broadcast on WFAA. She will now go on to compete in Miss America.

"I am humbled, honored, and grateful to serve as your 87th Miss Texas!," she posted on Instagram on June 30. "I made history last night as the first immigrant-born and first Ghanaian Miss Texas, and I hope to continue making history with the Texas community and the Miss Texas class."

Addo-Yobo’s family emigrated from the West African nation of Ghana in 1999, and she became a naturalized American just two years ago.

“My parents and I [immigrated] to the United States when I was just shy of two years old,” she writes in her bio on the Miss Southlake Instagram page. “We had two suitcases and a few hundred dollars. A few years later, my family of three turned to a family of 5, and we moved to Canada and lived there for eight years. In 2010, my parents made the decision to chase the American dream one more time and we moved to Texas.

“I didn’t become a U.S. Citizen until 2022, when I was 24 years old. I lost out on many opportunities as a teenager and college student because of my citizenship status, including competing in the Miss America Opportunity. But I’m grateful to be an American, thankful for the new opportunities..."

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After she gained U.S. citizenship, she competed in the 2023 Miss Texas pageant as Miss Dallas.

Addo-Yobo calls herself an “avid learner” who holds a bachelor of science in psychology and child learning & development with a minor in criminology from The University of Texas at Dallas and a master's in clinical psychology from Sam Houston State University. She also earned a certificate from the Lyndon B. Johnson Women’s Campaign School at the University of Texas at Austin. “I’m currently finishing my MBA at Lamar University and will begin law school in the fall,” her bio (published before she won Miss Texas) says.

As winner of Miss Texas, she will receive a $30,000 scholarship.

Addo-Yobo also is an autism advocate whose real-life experiences informed both her Miss Texas advocacy platform and her on-stage talent - performing a powerful self-written monologue about her brother’s autism journey.

“My younger brother, Andrew, was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder when I was about six years old. Since then, I have learned a lot about Autism and how to be an advocate,” she writes in her bio. “A dangerous and life-threatening wandering incident involving my brother led me to develop The SPARK Project, to include autism safety in the conversation of autism awareness.”

Addo-Yobo is also open about her personal mental health journey, recounting in a UTD alumni publication her struggles with depression exacerbated by the loss of her mother in recent years.

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Addo-Yobo was crowned Miss Texas wearing a stunning yellow evening gown with a cape, a nod to her homeland.

“Donning Yellow, Miss Southlake Annette is presenting a symbol of Prosperity,” the Miss Southlake organization posted on Instagram ahead of the final round. “Ghana is known as the Gold Coast, and in the triband flag of Ghana (🇬🇭), Gold symbolizes the mineral rich land prior to colonialism. Adorned in her yellow Sherri Hill Couture, Annette carries with her a rich and prosperous legacy of resilience as she strives to become the first immigrant-born Miss Texas.”

She beat out more than 50 other contestants from around the state and was crowned by Ellie Breaux, Miss Texas 2023, who came in first runner-up at the most recent Miss America.

“Annette, your path to this title was always clear, and I know you will wear that crown with so much poise and grace,” Breaux wrote on Facebook. “Your journey inspires countless others. Texas is truly fortunate to have you represent us, and I can’t wait to be there cheering you on at Miss America!”

Rounding out the top five at Miss Texas 2024 were:

First runner-up: Miss Space City, Chloe Burke
Second runner-up: Miss Southeast Texas, Anyssa Mujica
Third runner-up: Miss Plano, Sadie Schiermeyer
Fourth runner-up: Miss Burleson, Nicole Wingard

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Tops in Texas

Dallas makes top 10 list of cities with most millionaires in America

Photo courtesy of Dallas Cowboys

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Dallas is rolling in millionaires and a new list offers the proof: A study of the Top 10 Wealthiest Cities in USA by residency and citizenship consultant Henley & Partners puts Dallas at No. 6 — home to 72,400 millionaires as of December 2024.

As if that's not enough, Dallas also has 135 centi-millionaires — meaning they're worth $100 million or more — and 16 billionaires.

According to the study, the number of millionaires in Dallas grew 85 percent from 2014 to 2024.

The study pointed out that Dallas “has seen very strong wealth growth over the past two decades, driven in part by the relocation of several major corporate headquarters to the city. Prominent companies based in the Dallas-Fort Worth area include AT&T, CBRE, Caterpillar, American Airlines, Charles Schwab, and Texas Instruments.”

Houston was the richest city in Texas, coming in at no. 5 and beating Dallas by one place. Austin just squeezed in at 10th place but is rushing to catch up: It had the greatest increase in number of richy-rich in the past decade.

Here’s the rundown for Houston and Austin:

Houston — 81,800 millionaires, 210 centi-millionaires, and 16 billionaires. Millionaire growth rate from 2014 to 2024: 75 percent.
Austin — 32,000 millionaires, 90 centi-millionaires, and 10 billionaires. Millionaire growth rate from 2014 to 2024: 90 percent.

In its comments about Houston, the study pointed out that “America’s energy capital, Houston, is a global leader in engineering and aeronautics. It is also home to 24 Fortune 500 companies — the third-highest number among U.S. cities, after New York and Chicago."

Regarding Austin, the study said: “With its booming tech sector, Austin has been dubbed ‘Silicon Hills.’ Several major tech companies have moved their headquarters to the city over the past decade, most notably Tesla. Texas’s low state taxes add to Austin’s appeal. While wealth growth in the city has slowed over the past couple of years, it remains very impressive when viewed over the past decade as a whole.”

New York City topped the overall list, boasting 384,500 millionaires, 818 centi-millionaires and 66 billionaires. But Texas is the only state with three millionaire hubs in the top 10.

On a separate Henley & Partners list, Houston took the No. 5 spot for the most centi-millionaires in the U.S. Dallas ranked seventh and Austin ranked 12th.

study reports