Marine Capt. Riley Tejcek says she is a jack of all trades, master of none.
From the outside, however, it appears as though she’s a master of several. Tejcek was a collegiate athlete and ROTC cadet at George Washington University, graduating in 2019. Since then, she has commissioned into the Marine Corps, joined Team USA Olympic bobsledding, won a beauty pageant and become a published author.
“If You Can Dream It, Be It,” her children’s book geared toward girls ages 4 to 8, was released in March, giving Tejcek the chance to tell her story her own way.
“I am very goal-oriented and driven, and I like to do things that create an impact — ‘impact’ is really my word of this year,” Tejcek said. “And I knew that there’s so much power in storytelling, and a lot of people were telling my story, but I really haven’t had the opportunity to tell my story the way I wanted to.”
So during a live television broadcast, when she was asked about her goals, she said she wanted to write a book before she turned 30.
“And once I said that, the next day I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I just told the universe. Now I have to do it.’”
Inspiring the next generation
An Indiana native, Tejcek explained being in the military was something that never occurred to her growing up because she never saw women in uniform where she lived. The book is a way for her to instill the idea of service into the minds of little girls while they’re still developing their belief systems and worldview.
“I just have a heart for children,” she said. “I love children so much, and it’s so inspiring when you’re able to see the faces of people when they look up to you in some capacity. For me, it’s just been the greatest honor seeing young men and women take my book, read it and gain something from it.”
During a recruiting event last year outside of Busch Stadium in St. Louis, a young girl approached the booth wanting a T-shirt, which required doing push-ups.
“She got down and she did, like, 50 push-ups,” Tejcek recalled. “And I was floored. I mean, my mouth was open. … And, you know, naturally, I’m just like hyping her up and giving her the shirt that she earned and all this stuff, high fiving her. And she ran back to the booth two or three more times to do more push-ups.”
Tejcek was so inspired by the little girl’s “boldness and courage to come up and constantly put [her]self out there” that she asked to take a picture with the girl, a moment and memento she cherishes to this day.
“I’m doing this for girls like her that don’t know that maybe this is a place for them, that are so much stronger than what they think, and they are capable of making a massive impact on the community,” Tejcek said. “We need people like them.”
Encouragement and faith
Her book doesn’t just focus on encouraging girls to join the military but to pursue all of their passions without limits. Her message that anything is possible has even caught the attention of Tim Kennedy, Green Beret and retired UFC fighter.
“I’m a father of three daughters, and I’ve had my daughters asking if they could be astronauts, if they could be engineers, if they could be firefighters,” said Kennedy. “[With] a book like Riley’s — that’s really cool encouragement that you can really do anything.”
Kennedy first met Tejcek on social media and invited her to attend a veteran event he hosted in Washington during the presidential inauguration in January. Not only did she ruck with a couple hundred veterans that day, she also led them in prayer.
“She’s incredible, she’s brilliant, she’s hard-working,” Kennedy said. “She’s a very transparent person, which is a very rare thing in Washington, D.C. She’s a woman of ethics and character and faith.”
And her faith is what Tejcek credits as the most important factor of her success.
“We’re oftentimes underqualified to do things, but we limit ourselves and operate in fear of ‘what if I fail’ and people won’t even try,” she said. “Versus having my faith as the backbone of all my decisions lets me know that I am supposed to act with boldness and be courageous when I do things — it’s in Joshua 1:9 — and I can’t let fear prevent me from that.”
Whether each experience is a success or a failure, Tejcek said she learns from it, prays about it and looks for the next opportunity God has for her.
Cross-country move and building community
Tejcek is now preparing to PCS from Quantico, Virginia, back to Camp Pendleton, California. Camp Pendleton is familiar to her — she was stationed there from 2019 to 2022 — and this will be her third cross-country move.
“I’ve learned to stay flexible,” she said. “And that means flexibility with schedule, with friends, adapting to your surroundings and having to start all over. And, ultimately, it has kind of forced me to be very bold and hit the ground running and get involved.”
While it helps that she’s returning to old stomping grounds, a PCS always requires setting up a new schedule and building a new community. To do that, Tejcek said she tries to jump right into finding a new gym, a new church and introducing herself to people.
“Try not to have a gap without a community,” she advised, “because when you up and move all the time, it can be tough to feel like you have any roots anywhere.”
“If You Can Dream It, Be It” can be found at Barnes & Noble and on Amazon. To continue following Riley Tejcek’s inspiring journey, check her out on Instagram @riley.tejcek
