Miss Florida USA 2025 is a UF Gator; five other things to know about Palm Beach resident

Yahoo

19 hours ago

The Palm Beach resident who claimed the Miss Florida USA crown in May is no stranger to competing in beauty pageants — or winning them.
Lou Schieffelin, 25, a longtime professional model, aspiring pilot and director of marketing for a prominent Palm Beach real estate agent, secured her second crown on the Miss USA circuit on May 25. She previously was the 2018 Miss Florida Teen USA.
The title comes one year after Schieffelin finished as second runner-up in the Miss Florida USA pageant. She will represent Florida at the Miss USA 2025 competition this fall, though a date and location have not been set.
The Miss USA winner represents the United States at the Miss Universe competition, which will be held in November in Thailand.
Here are five things to know about Miss Florida USA 2025 Lou Schieffelin:
Schieffelin, who celebrated her 25th birthday June 7, spent her childhood in Greenwich, Connecticut, a city of 63,000 in the southwest corner of the state.
She moved to Winter Park as a teenager and attended The First Academy in Orlando, where she played on the school's varsity volleyball team. Schieffelin went on to graduate from the University of Florida.
Schieffelin has been a professional model for 16 years, following in her mom Stacey's footsteps.
Stacey Schieffelin was a cover, catalog and runway model for more than 20 years, and she was instrumental in getting Lou and her sister, Knox, into modeling at a young age.
As a child, Lou Schieffelin appeared on the cover of American Girl magazine, and she went on to work with brands like Ralph Lauren, Max Mara and Oscar de la Renta.
Schieffelin said she has stepped away "a bit" from modeling, but she remains grateful for what it has offered her during the past 16 years.
"It's been an amazing experience," she said.
Schieffelin relocated to Palm Beach a year ago, moving in with a friend.
She joined Margit Brandt's real estate office team as a director of marketing and licensed executive assistant, a role she told the Daily News she really enjoys.
"She's obviously been very successful on the island," Schieffelin said of Brandt, who is affiliated with Premier Estate Properties. "I feel very honored to even be on the team."
Both of Schieffelin's grandfathers were involved in aviation. One was a B-17 fighter pilot in World War II, and the other was a U.S. Army paratrooper.
"Planes are kind of in my family, and I'm grateful to be able to continue the legacy," she said.
Schieffelin's grandfather, Ed Stetler, operates a general livestock farm in Lakeland, and Schieffelin often visited during her childhood.
"I definitely was dirty more than I was clean when I was little," she said. "I grew up in the mud. We were kind of in that southern tradition, like respect and hospitality and good business and handshakes. I'm grateful for my grandfather for raising me and my sister that way."
Jodie Wagner is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at [e-mail].
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Miss Florida USA 2025: Facts on Lou Schieffelin in Palm Beach