Editor’s Note: This profile is the fifth of six stories about students and alumni leading up to LovEMU Giving Day on April 2. For more information about the day and how to donate, visit: love.emu.edu
It’s hard for Kaleb Wyse ’10 to pinpoint exactly what drew him to EMU.
Sure, he had plenty of connections to the school. His older sister and two cousins are EMU alumni. A graduate of Iowa Mennonite School (now known as Hillcrest Academy), Wyse said he isn’t sure what it was about EMU. He just liked it more than the other schools he visited.
“I felt more at home at EMU than anywhere else,” he said. “It just felt like the right campus for me.”
Wyse is a content creator who shares delicious recipes, gardening tips and home decor projects with more than a million followers through his lifestyle blog, YouTube channel and various social media platforms, all under the “Wyse Guide” handle. The culinary entrepreneur majored in accounting and business administration at EMU, where he gained the skills needed to build his brand. It’s also where he met his business partner and college friend, Joel Kratzer ’10.
The two EMU grads launched their passion project in 2012. They maintained the website as a “night and weekend thing,” Wyse said, while working regular jobs. About seven years into their venture, the site started to take off. Wyse said he shifted in his approach, serving up more authentic content with stories personal to his life. “Then, when COVID hit,” he added, “everyone was looking for help with gardening, preserving, and cooking or baking at home.” Wyse and Kratzer began working on the site full time in 2021. Today, their multimedia company is comprised of a team of six.
Wyse said his time at EMU taught him to be more open and honest with others. He pointed to his intercultural program, a three-week voyage to Greece and Turkey led by Dr. Linford Stutzman ’84, SEM ’90, as a pivotal experience. Packed into close quarters with other students he didn’t know well, Wyse found that the trip offered him a crash course in forming new connections. “That trip is something I think about a lot,” he said.
EMU’s small class sizes helped him thrive as a student. “I could walk into my professors’ offices and talk to them instead of a teaching assistant,” Wyse said. “I’m someone who needs personal connection and having that at EMU really supported me. I didn’t feel like I was just a number.”
Another advantage of attending EMU is the wealth of scholarships accessible to students. Wyse received the Horace & Elizabeth Longacre Business Scholarship during his four years as a Royal. He remembers writing thank-you cards to the Longacre family and feeling a personal connection to them through the award, which is named in honor of a philanthropic couple from southeastern Pennsylvania who were staunch supporters of EMU.
“The fact that someone believed it was important for me to receive a good education at a great school was both impactful and humbling,” Wyse said.
His debut cookbook, There’s Always Room at the Table, is now a New York Times’ bestseller. The collection of recipes and stories was published by HarperCollins earlier this month and is available for purchase at online retailers.
This isn’t the first time EMU News has covered his exploits. Wyse landed a one-day cohosting gig on The Rachael Ray Show in 2015. In 2021, he returned to campus during EMU Homecoming and Family Weekend as a featured speaker for the annual TenTalks event.
Wyse is the fourth generation to live on his family farm in southeast Iowa. Follow him at: wyseguide.com
Your generous support helps students pursue a quality college education without financial barriers. Join us for the 9th annual LovEMU Giving Day and contribute to the scholarships that empower future EMU students. Together, we can help write EMU’s next chapter.
Read the previous profiles in our A Royal Tale series:
Join the Discussion on “A Royal Tale: Kaleb Wyse ’10 found recipe for success at EMU”