A wrestler wins Miss Teen International 2022

Adriana Demos was crowned Miss Teen International 2022 at the end of the pageant, held on July 30, 2022 in Kingsport, Tennessee. The native from Gurnee, Illinois succeeds Miss Teen International 2021, Katie Hoang and plans during her reign to end gender disparity making sure girls are set up to succeed. Through her foundation, Equally Equipped, partnerships and ambassadorships with Skills USA, Girls, Inc., and Wrestle Like A Girl, she will travel the world to reach girls in underserved communities to help them see that they can do anything God puts on their hearts to do. “My platform and my nonprofit organization (are) focused on making sure all girls have the right tools to succeed in life,” Demos said. In addition to taking home the crown, Demos won the fitness-wear, fun fashion, evening gown awards during the contest.

Adriana’s journey began when she wanted to be a wrestler, like her brother, and her father said no. Demos took up wrestling after seven years of competitive all-star cheerleading and winning the Summit National Cheerleading Championship at age 11. In 7th grade, she asked the wrestling coach to join, and he told her she could only dictate the boys’ scores. These moments changed the trajectory of her life and are the reason she is so passionate to keep all girls off the sidelines for any sport or industry typically dominated by males.

She believes and represents to the girls of the world that beauty and strength are not mutually exclusive. She created Equally Equipped to help girls trying to participate in wrestling and other sports they are typically shut out of. She quickly began to see the true gender disparity beyond sports, so her foundation helps girls to be equipped in all aspects of life.

Demos has partnered with RUDIS, a national manufacturer of wrestling apparel, to donate singlets to girls from underserved communities who want to wrestle. She spoke in June to girls at a Skills USA trades conference in Atlanta about persevering to achieve your dreams. She also serves as a social media ambassador for Girls Inc. She is honored to represent these organization, because girls are marginalized and kept out of sports and trade programming. She is on a mission to set the girls of the world up properly to take it over and make it a fair and powerful place where every girl knows she can!

Demos got involved in the world of pageants at around age 13 starting at the county fair level. “I was always looking around for a pageant where I could share my heart for service and my platform … making sure girls have a voice,” she said. She won the Miss Teen Illinois International pageant in November, qualifying her for the international pageant, which concluded about two weeks ago. Demos said the life skills, lessons learned and bonds made with “girls who share the same heart of service” were “amazing.”

In her senior year of high school, just months before she was blessed with the Miss Teen International crown, she participated in the first ever Girls Wrestling State Championships in Illinois and placed third in the 145-pound wrestling division of the Illinois High School Association’s girls state finals. Demos is a 2022 All-State Athlete, previously was named Female Athlete of the Year.

That alone sets Demos apart from her predecessors, said Randi Moxi of the unincorporated Grayslake area, state director for Illinois International Pageants and 2014 Mrs. Illinois International. “I’ve never seen a girl wrestler on a pageant stage,” said Moxi, who has traveled the world judging pageants and coaching contestants. “She is just groundbreaking. In 40 years in this industry I have never seen anything like it. She won everything.“

Adriana is starting college in the fall on scholarship with Carthage College in Wisconsin, where she will also be on the women’s wrestling team. Adriana will be pursuing a political science and broadcast journalism degree with the professional goal to change the media and political landscape from within.

The 2022 Miss Teen International’s court includes:

1st runner-up – Catherine Andrews (Alabama)

2nd runner-up – Jocelyn Birklid (North Dakota)