Sharlize True Trujillo was recognized on Friday night before the Rose Bowl game, and by the weekend she was trending across college football social media.
At just 22, Trujillo was one of three state titleholders UCLA would recognize during the first quarter of its No. 4 team’s contest against Illinois, according to UCLA’s game-day notes. She’d join Miss California USA Acacia McBride and Miss Teen California USA Ava Grace Nichols for recognition.
The UCLA team won 22-14 and kept its undefeated season at 10-0, with Fox broadcasting the game.
Throughout the weekend, posts and stories related to Trujillo began appearing on the former Twitter site, X. CLEATZ, the sports account, posted an observation on Sunday morning saying, “Then the red head comes into view….. goodness!” Other accounts recognized her as being Miss California, and one user remarked that Trujillo’s sister roots for the Denver Broncos.
Trujillo’s older sister, Shariah True, is five years older, as reported in a 2025 Daily Bruin profile article. Shariah has performed as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Rams and currently performs for the Denver Broncos, according to the NFL team’s own site.
It is not the first time the public has seen and heard about Trujillo, however, and for a while now her name was recognizable around town, with her TikTok followers numbering 2.9 million as of August, when The Hollywood Times reported on it. She claims brand deals made her financially independent at 16.
“I really want to instill that sense of independence in other young women,” she said.
Moreover, she has been active on the platform and, according to the Miss California organization’s website, has amassed over 1 billion video views on TikTok. Her profile also mentions her CEO role at the clothing line TrueWrld and her training as a figure skater.
Trujillo is a gender studies student at UCLA and contributes to the university’s spirit squad through dance. In season, she appeared in an interview with UCLA coach Bob Chesney about his involvement with the non-profit organization Team Impact, which connects children with life-threatening illnesses with collegiate teams.
On June 20th, she won the title of Miss California at the William Saroyan Theatre in Fresno, after competing as Miss San Fernando Valley. On September 6, she placed fourth out of 52 delegates from each U.S. state, D.C., and Puerto Rico at the 99th Miss America pageant in West Palm Beach, Florida. Her skill was dancing.
Her service platform, called True Worth, collaborates with Girl Well and Altadena Girls to help girls living in homelessness get hygiene supplies, clothing, and other essentials. Moreover, she founded the True Start Scholarship program, which is partially funded from her share of brand-deal profit.
Trujillo became a member of the Miss America organization in 2025 as Miss Culver City and was 21 then. At the same time, she mentioned that she was the first in her family to get to college.
“I never thought I would go into pageants, but it’s super empowering,” she said at the time.
