Growing up, Annette Addo-Yobo was a tomboy, preferring hoodies and tennis shoes to dresses and earrings.

Things have changed. The 26-year-old wore a glamorous yellow evening gown when she won the title of Miss Texas in July. Wearing dresses and earrings is no longer an issue, and the sparkling Miss Texas crown she won has become a daily embellishment for photo shoots and public appearances. She’s more than OK with her new accessory.

“I love it,” she said. “I love wearing it.”

Addo-Yobo won that crown when she won the Miss Texas Scholarship pageant this summer. Addo-Yobo competed as Miss Southlake and will go on to represent the Lone Star State at the Miss America pageant, to be held in January in Orlando, Florida.

Her win was an extraordinary one because she’s a Miss Texas title holder with several firsts to her credit. Addo-Yobo is the first Miss Southlake to capture the Lone Star crown and signature yellow rose bouquet.

As a native of Ghana in West Africa, she’s the first immigrant to win Miss Texas, and the first short-haired contestant to win. Her family migrated for her father’s job to Maryland, then Canada, before moving to Texas where she graduated from high school. She became an American citizen just two years ago, giving her triple citizenship.

Verifying all these firsts is Miss Texas historian Randy Pruett, who attended his first Miss America pageant in 1965. Pruett, who recently won the first-ever lifetime achievement award from the Miss Texas organization, authored a 2010 coffee-table book, “75th Miss Texas Celebration: A Dream as Big as Texas” and received an Emmy for a televised Miss Texas pageant.

He knows pageants, and he expects Addo-Yobo to be successful at the Miss America pageant, stopping short of predicting a winner. Even so, Pruett’s success rate is high. He’s judged state pageants in 29 different states, last year serving as a judge in the Miss Colorado pageant. The judges crowned Madison Marsh, who went on to become Miss America.

“We’re not only putting these women in glass slippers, but we’re also teaching them to break the glass ceilings,” Pruett said. “Annette is a great example of someone who is breaking the glass ceiling.”

Like other young women involved in the Miss America Organization, Addo-Yobo became interested in the scholarship money. So far, the new Miss Texas has won more than $40,000 in scholarships and could win even more competing at Miss America. She has her eyes on law school, putting her acceptance to South Texas College of Law on hold because of her new job as Miss Texas. Previously she attended the University of Texas at Dallas, where she majored in psychology and child development with a minor in criminology. She also holds a master’s in clinical psychology from Sam Houston State University.

“I think she’s going to be an interesting Miss Texas, a very popular Miss Texas and very busy with her platform,” said Jan Mitchell, executive director of the Miss Texas Scholarship Organization.

That platform addresses autism, which is inspired by her nonverbal, autistic, 23-year-old brother, Andrew. She already has traveled to Washington, D.C., to advocate for the Autism CARES Act and the Autism Family Caregivers Act. Her passion for educating and advocating for the cause also inspired her talent presentation during pageant competition. For her talent she used “the spoken word,” she said. She wrote the monologue, using emotion she hopes will inspire more assistance for autistic individuals.

“It was shedding light on the lack of visibility and the lack of support autism gets in America,” she said. She views her trip to Miss America as a greater opportunity to promote her cause.

Like other pageant watchers, Mitchell is optimistic for Addo-Yobo’s chances of winning the Miss America title. Two years ago, Miss Texas came in second runner-up at Miss America. Then last year, Miss Texas earned first runner-up.

“It would be just really exciting if Annette [became] Miss America,” Mitchell said. “We could go from second to first to winner. That would be fabulous.”

And then, Annette Addo-Yobo would receive another new crown to wear.