Who We Are
Natalie Foster
IFTF Research Affiliate
2015 IFTF Fellow
Co-Founder, Peers
Natalie is an expert on the future of work, particularly as it relates to platform work and the gig economy. She is currently an advisor to the The Aspen Institute Future of Work Initiative and the Open Society Foundations, and is a fellow at Institute for the Future and New America California.
Natalie co-founded and launched Peers.org to support people who work in the sharing and on-demand economy. Prior to Peers, she was the CEO and co-founder of Rebuild the Dream, a platform for people–driven economic change, with Van Jones.
Previously, Natalie served as digital director for President Obama’s Organizing for America (OFA) and the Democratic National Committee. She built and directed the team responsible for the president's message and fundraising through social, mobile, and email communication with the President's millions of supporters.
Natalie built the first digital department at the Sierra Club and served as the deputy organizing director for MoveOn.org.
Named one of the Top Fifty Women to Watch in Tech, she is often speaking and training at convergences like SXSW, Social Media Week, SOCAP, Ouishare Fest, and Personal Democracy Forum.
She advises start-ups like a new campaign to win Paid Family Leave called PL+US; Our City, an urban prototyping nonprofit; and Landed, a Y Combinator-backed startup to crowdsource home equity.
Natalie lives in Oakland, CA with her husband, Matt Ewing, and nearly 3-year old son, Huxley. The daughter of a preacher from Kansas, Natalie is a graduate of Pepperdine University; Green Corps, the field school for environmental organizing; an Institute for the Future Fellow from 2015; and a Rockwood Leadership Institute Fellow.