Rick Foerster is a writer who explores themes of meaning, identity, and reinvention through both nonfiction essays and fiction. His debut novel, Forget This To Survive, is coming in Spring 2027.
Before writing, he spent 12 years as the 6th employee of Privia Health, a healthcare startup that grew into a $2B+ public company. Today he writes The Way of Work, a newsletter for mid-career professionals, read by over 3,000 subscribers.
Rick spent 12 years as the 6th employee of Privia Health, a healthcare startup that grew into a $2B+ public company (NASDAQ: PRVA). There, he built and scaled several businesses and teams, including leading Value-Based Care, which helped over 1M patients improve their health.
It was the kind of career that’s supposed to fill the void and conquer all life’s questions.
Age 40
So at 40, he left to start his own healthcare company.
Or so he thought.
After 3 months of building a new startup, Rick finally started asking himself some of the questions he’d bulldozed over for years. Big ones like: “Who am I?” And: “What do I really want?”
“Rick walks the walk. A lot of hard fought knowledge.”
Kris Abdelmessih, Founder, Moontower
The sabbatical
Going dark
Instead of building that startup, he pivoted to a proper sabbatical, where he distanced himself from work and his prior life, and coincidentally, started writing. First about his past lessons learned, then about the deeper stuff underneath, like meaning, identity, and ambition (with his special dash of charming humor).
“A gift for conveying deep, thought-provoking ideas.”
Ellen Kelsay, CEO, Business Group on Health
The essays
The Way of Work
That writing turned into The Way of Work, a Substack newsletter read by over 3,000 subscribers. The newsletter is for mid-career professionals who have done what they were supposed to do and sense that something is missing. Rick is openly wary of gurus, tidy frameworks, and five-step answers to questions that don’t have them.
“So well written. Sophisticated ideas in refreshingly clear prose.”
Rick’s fiction grew out of the same questions. His debut novel, Forget This To Survive, is a post-apocalyptic psychological novel. Like his essays, it deals in aftermath: what collapse takes from a person, what they carry out of it, and what it costs to keep going.
Part writer, part explorer, part father, and part ain’t-never-gonna-be-boxed-in-by-another-identity.
He is a graduate of the University of Richmond, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science (which he’s never used). He lives in Virginia with his wife and two kids, and is a little too involved in their fledgling soccer careers.
“His explorations about life remain terrifically interesting.”
Sara Pendergast, Artist
On the mic
Podcasts & media
Rick has joined hosts across the personal finance, career, and creativity worlds to talk about freedom, career transitions, and the search for meaning.
The Way of Work is also a podcast, where Rick reads his essays aloud. Listen on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
In high school, Rick received the superlative “Most Sarcastic.” Other people got stuff like “Most Likely to Succeed” or “Best Smile.” To this day, it’s still his proudest achievement.
02
Fraternity president
In college, Rick was President of his fraternity, which meant he was responsible for 70-ish college boys. If he could relive college, he would not do it again.
03
Fourteen applications
Early in his career, Rick applied to 14 graduate programs (including 10 PhDs) with the hopes of studying Health Policy. At the last minute, he got cold feet and decided not to go to any of them.
04
Coiner of phrases
Rick likes coining terms or phrases. Some of his best ones include:
Rick had a quarter-life crisis, a midlife crisis, and is on track for the first ever three-quarter-life crisis.
06
The Other Side of Enough
His most popular writing series was The Other Side of Enough, where he interviewed people who had enough money to never work again. Special guests included The Mad Fientist, Khe Hy, Jordan Grumet, and Rick’s mom.
07
Bills Mafia
Rick is an avid fan of the Buffalo Bills. How avid? Well, he can name all 53 players on the roster and even the 17 players on the practice squad.
(Aren’t there only 16 players on an NFL practice squad? Well, since you asked, as of this writing, the Bills have an exception for an extra spot for Travis Clayton, an International Pathway Program player.) Go Bills.
