Miss Illinois International wins Miss International 2022

Katie Stapleton was crowned Miss International 2022 on July 30, 2022 at the annual Miss International Pageant. The event took place at the MeadowView Marriott Conference Resort & Convention Center, Kingsport, Tennessee. The 28-year-old native from Bloomington succeeds Miss International 2021, Deepa Dhillon. During her reign, Stapleton will promote the mission of Ronald McDonald House Charities as an international spokesperson and ambassador.

“I am so grateful to be crowned Miss International 2022 because the role will allow me to get in front of new audiences and provide me with a bigger megaphone to change the world for children,” said Stapleton. “This next year, I plan to travel throughout the United States and to several countries to help keep families close so that children who are suffering have the healing hands of loved ones by their side.”

Katie Stapleton is in her third and final year of pediatric resident physician at OSF Children’s Hospital of Illinois. She received her Doctor of Osteopathy degree from Midwestern University and her Bachelor of Science in Biology from Illinois Weslyan University, where she graduated Cum Laude.

As a child, she spent her days in the hospital and now with the crown and title of Miss Illinois Illinois, she is now working as the doctor she needed growing up.  As a child, Katie was diagnosed with multiple ailments such as asthma, hypothyroidism, and endometriosis that required frequent travel for treatment from pediatric subspecialists. “People always ask me ‘how do you do it? How do you have time?’ Well it’s so easy because I’m already doing it all at the same time,” Stapleton said after her winning of state title in November.

She started pageantry four years ago with the goal of bringing to light her passion for helping children battling illnesses. “Participating in pageantry has given me many valuable skills and has helped me learn to incorporate my passions with my goals, and my platform with my job,” said Stapleton.“I choose to compete in the Miss International Pageant because of the organization’s commitment to service work and sisterhood.  The system truly feels like a family and helps you better the lives of others and yourself.”

She says, “I want that for my patients and give them that fair chance to heal from illness and grow and to have a normal life outside of whatever is happening to them right now.”

With her title as Miss Illinois International and as a Resident Doctor she partners with the Ronald McDonald House, St. Jude and Compass-to-Care for kids all in an effort to help ease the burden on the children she takes care of and their parents. She is looking forward to continuing these projects, in addition to starting new ones such as crafting an RMHC Collective Cookbook to further family togetherness, presenting a Lunch & Learn series to inform medical personnel about available support services, and partnering with Doctors Without Borders to provide life-saving medical treatment to underserved children and families in over 70 counties.

It’s something she says helped her as a child, “as a kid when I was sick the only reason-the only way I was able to be here today was because of my mom and having those resources to get to my appointment and receive the treatments that I needed.”

In her free time, Katie enjoys spending time with her family and friends, being a “foodie” and putting a healthy spin on family favorite recipes, bargain shopping with her mother, training for races such as the 2022 Bank of America Chicago Marathon, “painting to poetry”, and taking long walks around the park with her rescue dog, Miles.

The 2022 Miss International’s court includes

1st runner-up – Brooklyn Lowery (California)

2nd runner-up – Ba’Leigh Burns (Utah)

Presentation video of Miss Illinois International