Wyatt Toehlke ’18 remembers exactly what drew him to Radford University as an undergraduate. Growing up in Virginia Beach, he felt ready for a change.
“I didn’t have too much of a good idea of where I wanted to go,” he said. “I just knew I wanted to go somewhere different than Virginia Beach, so I wanted something in the mountains, kind of the furthest away from the coast as I could get.”
Now, just a few years after graduation, Toehlke has taken on a high-profile role in Virginia politics as the Deputy Secretary of Commerce and Trade under Governor Glenn Youngkin. In this position, he manages Virginia’s international trade relationships, overseeing offices in Germany, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, and leading trade missions that drive economic growth.
“We want to convince companies to choose Virginia,” Toehlke said. “We want great-paying jobs for our citizens. The more corporations pay taxes, the less taxes our citizens have to pay. So it’s a win-win for everyone.”
At Radford, Toehlke initially took his time selecting a major, eventually finding a passion in political science and international relations. “I had some really amazing professors there who had worked in that field,” he said. “They said, ‘Hey, we think you have some potential working in this field.’” Inspired by their encouragement, he pursued an international experience that became life-changing—a custom study-abroad program in Ukraine, where he learned Russian.
“That turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made in my life,” he said. “And I don’t think I would have been able to do a custom program like that at another university.”
From that experience, Toehlke went on to intern at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, which opened doors to political roles back home.
His advice for Radford students today?
“Say yes to everything. To different jobs, to different opportunities, to different trips. Find out what you’re good at. Spend a lot of time getting good at those things.”
Justin Ward for Radford University
