diff --git a/tracing-appender/src/lib.rs b/tracing-appender/src/lib.rs
index e5327da2e..717c24810 100644
--- a/tracing-appender/src/lib.rs
+++ b/tracing-appender/src/lib.rs
@@ -195,6 +195,14 @@ pub fn non_blocking<T: Write + Send + 'static>(writer: T) -> (NonBlocking, Worke
     NonBlocking::new(writer)
 }
 
+/// Convenience function for creating a non-blocking, off-thread writer with setup.
+pub fn non_blocking_with_setup<T: Write + Send + 'static>(
+    writer: T,
+    setup: impl FnOnce() + Send + 'static,
+) -> (NonBlocking, WorkerGuard) {
+    NonBlocking::new_with_setup(writer, setup)
+}
+
 #[derive(Debug)]
 pub(crate) enum Msg {
     Line(Vec<u8>),
diff --git a/tracing-appender/src/non_blocking.rs b/tracing-appender/src/non_blocking.rs
index 50d204a4b..cefdbf4fa 100644
--- a/tracing-appender/src/non_blocking.rs
+++ b/tracing-appender/src/non_blocking.rs
@@ -146,6 +146,14 @@ impl NonBlocking {
         NonBlockingBuilder::default().finish(writer)
     }
 
+    /// Returns a new `NonBlocking` writer wrapping the provided `writer` with the provided `setup` function.
+    pub fn new_with_setup<T: Write + Send + 'static>(
+        writer: T,
+        setup: impl FnOnce() + Send + 'static,
+    ) -> (NonBlocking, WorkerGuard) {
+        NonBlockingBuilder::default().finish_with_setup(writer, setup)
+    }
+
     fn create<T: Write + Send + 'static>(
         writer: T,
         buffered_lines_limit: usize,
@@ -173,6 +181,34 @@ impl NonBlocking {
         )
     }
 
+    fn create_with_setup<T: Write + Send + 'static>(
+        writer: T,
+        setup: impl FnOnce() + Send + 'static,
+        buffered_lines_limit: usize,
+        is_lossy: bool,
+        thread_name: String,
+    ) -> (NonBlocking, WorkerGuard) {
+        let (sender, receiver) = bounded(buffered_lines_limit);
+
+        let (shutdown_sender, shutdown_receiver) = bounded(0);
+
+        let worker = Worker::new(receiver, writer, shutdown_receiver);
+        let worker_guard = WorkerGuard::new(
+            worker.worker_thread_with_setup(thread_name, setup),
+            sender.clone(),
+            shutdown_sender,
+        );
+
+        (
+            Self {
+                channel: sender,
+                error_counter: ErrorCounter(Arc::new(AtomicUsize::new(0))),
+                is_lossy,
+            },
+            worker_guard,
+        )
+    }
+
     /// Returns a counter for the number of times logs where dropped. This will always return zero if
     /// `NonBlocking` is not lossy.
     pub fn error_counter(&self) -> ErrorCounter {
@@ -223,6 +259,20 @@ impl NonBlockingBuilder {
             self.thread_name,
         )
     }
+
+    pub fn finish_with_setup<T: Write + Send + 'static>(
+        self,
+        writer: T,
+        setup: impl FnOnce() + Send + 'static,
+    ) -> (NonBlocking, WorkerGuard) {
+        NonBlocking::create_with_setup(
+            writer,
+            setup,
+            self.buffered_lines_limit,
+            self.is_lossy,
+            self.thread_name,
+        )
+    }
 }
 
 impl Default for NonBlockingBuilder {
diff --git a/tracing-appender/src/worker.rs b/tracing-appender/src/worker.rs
index 00a7d38d3..3839f42cd 100644
--- a/tracing-appender/src/worker.rs
+++ b/tracing-appender/src/worker.rs
@@ -89,4 +89,33 @@ impl<T: Write + Send + 'static> Worker<T> {
             })
             .expect("failed to spawn `tracing-appender` non-blocking worker thread")
     }
+
+    /// Creates a worker thread that processes a channel until it's disconnected
+    pub(crate) fn worker_thread_with_setup(
+        mut self,
+        name: String,
+        setup: impl FnOnce() + Send + 'static,
+    ) -> std::thread::JoinHandle<()> {
+        thread::Builder::new()
+            .name(name)
+            .spawn(move || {
+                setup();
+                loop {
+                    match self.work() {
+                        Ok(WorkerState::Continue) | Ok(WorkerState::Empty) => {}
+                        Ok(WorkerState::Shutdown) | Ok(WorkerState::Disconnected) => {
+                            let _ = self.shutdown.recv();
+                            break;
+                        }
+                        Err(_) => {
+                            // TODO: Expose a metric for IO Errors, or print to stderr
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+                if let Err(e) = self.writer.flush() {
+                    eprintln!("Failed to flush. Error: {}", e);
+                }
+            })
+            .expect("failed to spawn `tracing-appender` non-blocking worker thread")
+    }
 }