Nigerian-American beauty queen Victoria Oluwakotanmi has been named Miss Grand USA 2026, taking over the title after the Miss Grand USA organisation terminated the reign of the original winner, Mekyla Li.
Oluwakotanmi, 25, was initially the first runner-up at the Miss Grand USA 2026 competition held in Las Vegas on August 10. She represented Indiana and emerged as one of the strongest contenders during the competition, winning the Best in Swim and State Costume awards.
The organisation announced Oluwakotanmi as the new titleholder on Friday, saying she would now carry the Miss Grand USA crown and represent the United States internationally. Her appointment came shortly after Li’s reign was terminated over violations of the pageant’s contractual and eligibility requirements.
Victoria Oluwakotanmi Background
Born into a Nigerian immigrant family in the United States, Oluwakotanmi grew up in San Antonio, Texas. Her father moved to the United States about three decades ago and initially worked as a dishwasher before earning a doctorate in nursing.
In a 2023 interview with KSAT, she described her father as an inspiration and said her Nigerian heritage was an important part of her identity. At the time, she was seeking the Miss Texas USA crown and spoke about her desire to represent military women, Nigerian-Americans and Black women through pageantry.
Before becoming a beauty queen, Oluwakotanmi served in the United States Navy. She joined the Navy Reserve in March 2019 as a logistics specialist and was assigned to the Naval Operational Support Center San Antonio at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston.
Pageantry Career
Her first major pageant success came in 2020, when she was crowned Miss Black San Antonio. According to a Navy publication, she was still a young reservist and a student at Northwest Vista College studying chemical engineering when she won the scholarship pageant.
She later competed in Miss Texas USA and represented Illinois at Miss Grand USA 2024, where she finished second runner-up. After her second-runner-up finish in 2024, she returned to the Miss Grand USA circuit and eventually competed as Miss Grand Indiana in 2026.
Her family established the Oluwakotanmi Promise, a scholarship and mentorship initiative designed to support young people through education and opportunities. The initiative was inspired in part by the story of her grandmother, who was denied the opportunity to attend college because of her gender.
Her appointment now gives her the opportunity to take that identity to an international audience. She is expected to represent the United States at Miss Grand International 2026 in India, where contestants from countries and territories around the world will compete for the international crown.
Oluwakotanmi’s route to the crown is however unusual as she did not originally win the Miss Grand USA 2026 final. Instead, she finished as runner-up and subsequently inherited the title after the reigning queen’s removal.
