Bradenton Native Crowned Miss FL, Will Vie For Miss America Title

LAKELAND, FL — A Bradenton native was named the newest Miss Florida Saturday night.

Miss Tampa, Leah Roddenberry, was crowned in front of a capacity crowd at the RP Funding Center’s Youkey Theatre in Lakeland after two rounds of competition, according to a news release from Polk County Tourism & Sports Marketing.

She’ll go on to represent the state in the 100th Miss America competition in December at the Mohegan Sun Resort in Connecticut.

“On Saturday night, my dream came true! I am overwhelmed with gratitude to be named as the 85th Anniversary Miss Florida and represent Florida at the 100th Anniversary Miss America Competition this year,” Roddenberry wrote on Instagram.

Ahead of the competition, she also wrote that she’s dreamed of becoming Miss Florida since she was 6 years old.

The 22-year-old is a two-time Miss Florida Outstanding Teen winner, a first in the pageant’s history.

In May, Roddenberry graduated from the University of Florida in Gainesville, where she majored in Family, Youth and Community. She was named one of six Outstanding Student Leaders from UF’s 2021 graduating class.

At UF, she was also a member of the Florida Blue Key, a leadership honor society, and founded the university’s chapter of IGNITE, which she served as president, according to her website. She was also a four-year member of the Dazzlers — UF’s dance team — and the Alpha Delta Pi Sorority and was a Rock the Vote Florida state ambassador and a ServiceVote 2020 Fellow for Youth Service America.

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She also founded “Be a LeadHER: Igniting the Spark Within” to inspire self confidence in young women and to provide opportunities for them to pursue their dreams.

Roddenberry was crowned Miss Tampa in 2020. In this role, she worked with numerous groups, including the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, BASE Camp Children's Cancer Foundation, Salvation Army, Girls Place Inc., Ronald McDonald House Charities, Girls with Confidence Tampa Bay and the Community Pregnancy Clinic in Gainesville, according to her website.