At age 26, Riley became one of the youngest news anchors in Richmond when she earned a spot at the station’s main anchor desk, leading weeknight newscasts for the top-rated newsroom in Central Virginia. But a career in news wasn’t always in the cards.
This native Virginian grew up in the small, storybook town of Clifton in Northern Virginia, where she worked in an ice cream shop, even donning the ice cream cone suit and flipping a sign. She attended Virginia Tech and loved every minute of it: “I’m one of those people who will speak about Tech ad nauseam,” she says. “It lived up to the hype.”
There she found a mentor in sportscaster Bill Roth, “the voice of the Hokies,” who told Style that Wyant was destined for success the moment she set foot on campus due to her personality and unique magnetism. “Put her in front of cameras and turn on the lights in a studio, she shines even brighter,” he says, adding that she worked hard behind the scenes. “I call our television studio at Virginia Tech our ‘gym’ and encourage our journalism students to come in after hours, late at night, to get up shots just like the best basketball players … If it was 10 p.m. on a school night [and] the lights were on, we knew it was Riley getting up some shots.”
Wyant initially wanted to be a sports reporter, but after breaking her femur and part of her back in college, she had a change of plans. “Really, I just loved being a fan more and didn’t want to be on the clock when at games,” she says. “But I was always curious — to the point that it was probably annoying.” She also loved the art of storytelling, noting that her grandparents passed along the gift of gab. “I feel like news has a wider range of stories,” she adds. “Even though it can be depressing.”
She began her career in Charlottesville at NBC29 (now called WVIR) in June 2020. Unfortunately, the pandemic was also beginning, so she had to “roll with the punches.” She moved to Richmond in October 2021 to work at sister station WWBT; both are owned by Gray Media. So far, that decision seems to be panning out; she’s already won an Emmy for her election night coverage. Another of her favorite local stories? The Richmond gun hole. “People lost their minds,” she recalls. “I show it to all the [journalism] classes I visit. It truly shows what Richmond is all about … It was a moment of unity and community.”
A resident of the museum district, Wyant is heavily involved in the community. She regularly emcees nonprofit events including the Virginia Red Cross Help Can’t Wait gala, the National Brain Tumor Society’s annual walk and race, and the Autism Society of Central Virginia’s Duck Race and Inclusion Festival. She also served as the on-air advocate for a community fundraiser, the St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway, that was ultimately named St. Jude’s campaign of the year, a national honor that beat out hundreds across the country. She was invited to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital headquarters in Memphis, Tenn. to accept the award. “I got to visit with people touched by St. Jude, it was really incredible.”
Oh, and try not to get jealous, but last September she got engaged to Tom Brady.
(No, not the hall of fame quarterback who clones his pets, but a man who lives in North Carolina). “He loves Richmond just as much as I do,” she says.
