Writing her own story
Chelsea Ryckis’ authenticity and resilience set an example for a new generation of brokers
By Scott Wooldridge || Photography by Kevin Garrett
“It’s a global movement toward transparency and allowing people to be who they are; they expect that they’ll be allowed to show up in the world in the way they want and that their employer will help ensure that their needs will be met.”
Ryckis recalls that her dream was to own her own business and become a physician. Although life has thrown some curveballs, she’s proud to have accomplished so many of her goals. “I always knew that when I got a chance to lead, I wanted to do it authentically, transparently and in a completely different way. And now I’m doing it.”
Chelsea Ryckis, the 2024 BenefitsPRO Advisor of the Year, has used her life experiences to become an advocate for herself, her clients and for innovative ideas that make benefits and health care work better for everyone.
“I knew when I was really young that I wanted to have the ability to impact a lot of people,” Ryckis says.
That drive has long been a part of Ryckis’ life. “Tenacious” has been a term used to describe her since she was very young, when she insisted on playing baseball in order to compete with her brother and other neighborhood kids. Later, when she transitioned to softball, she rose to become a top national player at the college level. Ryckis has also found success in her career as a benefits advisor. Her firm recently sold off part of its book of business in a seven-figure deal, while in March of this year, she was named the 2024 Most Innovative Healthcare Consultant of the Year at the You Powered Awards.
Her firm, Ethos Benefits, based in Orlando, Florida, has led a movement to provide more accountability and cooperation among advisors. Along with her husband and co-founder Donovan Ryckis, her leadership has helped establish innovative online communications about benefits and business and has helped create a unique remote workplace. Ryckis has also mentored other women in the field and helps lead a group dedicated to empowering women through the game of golf.
Out of the blue
A key part of Ryckis’ story is resilience. Originally from Canada, Ryckis moved to the U.S. for college, and her drive to excel led to success at the highest level in athletics at a Division 1 school, where she led her college softball conference in home runs and RBIs during pre-conference play. She also became a top performer academically, as evidenced by her acceptance to med school, and her 4.0 GPA, which made her a leading valedictorian candidate. But behind her visible success story, she was suffering anxiety and fatigue from trying to do it all.
Her mother told her that her pace was not sustainable, but her drive for perfection would not allow her to slow down. “It turns out that moms are always right,” she said, during her 2021 BEN Talk presentation about her comeback story. Her frenetic pace was halted abruptly by a freak accident during softball practice. While jogging on the field, she was hit in the head by a ball that had been thrown high into the air by a pitcher — a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Within 48 hours, she was suffering serious symptoms of a brain injury. “I couldn’t get out of bed… the fog was unbearable.”
Severe sensitivity to light and sound left her unable to function on a normal level. Although she still managed to graduate, she was unable to continue her academic career and moved back in with her parents. She also struggled to navigate the health care system — it took months to get an accurate diagnosis and she ended up having to pay for a brain injury rehabilitation program out of her own pocket.
Eventually, Ryckis recovered enough to resume work as a fundraiser for a non-profit. But after a couple of successful years of fundraising, she asked for a raise. Although her request was denied, she was told she would receive a bonus check. “It was really delayed, and so I had to ask again, and when it arrived, it was $10.”
Ryckis now has the $10 check in a frame behind her desk. “It’s my reminder that no one should ever tell you your worth,” she says. “If you are willing to educate yourself, to learn, to be vulnerable, to invest in your leadership, there is no cap on your potential. That was the moment I realized, ‘I’m not actually valued here.’”
She made a move to Colonial Life, where she found success, but soon decided that having only one carrier to offer to clients was limiting. “When you’re starting out, it’s really nice to have the level of support that you find in the captive model,” she says. “But when I met with clients, they wanted more.
“The more I learned the ropes, the more I saw all the misalignment in the industry; I realized if I maintained this path, I would be part of the problem. I would not be able to truly serve the needs of the clients if I only used a certain toolbox.”
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“In this health care system—which many feel is broken—it feels good to know that you’re working toward a solution, even if it’s just one part of the puzzle.”
“There’s a great expectation of authenticity in leadership, and that’s coming from our younger generation.”
Design by Chris Nicholls
A new ethos
She decided to join forces with her husband Donovan, who had been working with group health products that brought fiduciary concepts and elements into the world of benefits. Over the past few decades, fiduciary duties have become a crucial issue within retirement benefit plans, as well as the subject of a number of lawsuits when plans were not acting in the best interest of plan holders. “The term 'fiduciary' existed primarily among 401(k) plans,” Ryckis says. “When Donovan and I started our agency together, he had been doing retirement planning and was knowledgeable about the lawsuits in that industry. He told me then that it wouldn’t be long before those types of lawsuits transitioned over to self-funded health plans in the benefits space.”
A number of regulations around ERISA have since increased the fiduciary responsibilities for self-funded health plans, she notes. “We’ve been designing our agency around protecting groups on fiduciary responsibilities since day one. In this health care system—which many feel is broken—it feels good to know that you’re working toward a solution, even if it’s just one part of the puzzle. The fiduciary piece is a huge motivator for us.”
Bringing new concepts and approaches has been a hallmark of the Ethos approach. Ryckis often says that she believes in managing processes, not people. She notes that no one likes to be micromanaged, and that a more productive approach is possible when the focus shifts to how the process works, rather than only focusing on personal achievement.
Ethos has focused on internal transparency and creating a clear workflow that employees understand. “Instead of calling an employee and asking why things haven’t been done, it’s easy to reference the process instead,” she says. “You can ask, what’s wrong with the process, not what’s wrong with you. Your employees will have so much more trust in you — it’s not about them, it’s about the workflow.”
Another key feature of the firm’s evolution has been the switch to managing their workforce remotely. After the COVID-19 pandemic began, the firm tried to remain open, with employees having an option to come in or work from home. But they quickly found that a remote approach worked well for everyone in the company and allowed them to bring in a wider range of new talent.
“When you open up the search to people nationwide, the talent pool dramatically increases,” Ryckis says. “Expanding beyond Orlando was a total game changer for us. We use AI and other tools to effectively onboard people and keep them engaged. Everyone thought that we were crazy at first, and didn’t believe it would work in this business model, but it has worked so well!”
The firm also changed their approach to frequent face-to-face meetings with clients—a strategy many brokers have considered essential, but one which younger advisors are beginning to see as an old-school approach. “The groups that we serve are very forward-thinking; they’re very modern workplaces and they understand that if they really want to solve this problem, they need an expert. And if that expert is five states away, that’s fine.”
Bryan Orr, president of Kalos Services, a commercial and residential construction firm that employs approximately 300 people, has been working with Ethos for more than two years.
“We had worked with various brokers over the years, and the feeling that I got consistently was that there wasn’t a lot of out-of-the-box thinking,” Orr says. “We saw that Ethos offered a lot more options and were willing to work with us on those options. Chelsea is very unique; people like working with her, and she’s great at problem solving. They are aggressive but work in our best interest; people see that.”
Ethos is also on the cutting edge when it comes to communication and education: Chelsea and Donovan host the Ethos Effect Podcast, a program that features entrepreneurs who are using innovative ideas to change their industries for the better. Ryckis has also gained a strong following on LinkedIn, where she posts educational videos for benefits professionals and shares her story of resilience.
The benefits of sharing
Like other benefits advisors from her generation, Ryckis is more interested in collaboration and cooperation than competition.
“I think there’s been an energizing movement toward youth in the last five to 10 years,” she says. “There’s a great expectation of authenticity in leadership, and that’s coming from our younger generation. And along with that expectation, we’re bringing vulnerability. People who are rising to the top quickly are doing so because they’re willing to collaborate. And others are seeing that work, so they want to do the same.”
At various points in her career, Ryckis says older brokers would assume that as a young woman, she was an assistant, rather than the owner of a successful company. Experiences like this have only motivated her to help create change, including mentoring other women in the industry to build on the success and ideas that have worked for her.
Ryckis has also taken her ideas outside of the industry through her work with the Ladies Executive Golf Society (LEGS) of Orlando. The group’s irreverent name masks the serious work they perform to empower women in business and help make inroads in areas that were once more exclusively the domain of men. Ryckis has found that many women are hesitant to step onto the golf course, whereas men often feel comfortable on the greens no matter their skill level. Her work with LEGS is part of an effort to create an inclusive atmosphere for women to learn the sport and foster business growth.
When Ryckis mentions these new approaches and ideas, she often uses the word “vulnerable.” But by sharing the story of her brain injury, she has learned that along with vulnerability comes a sense of power—the idea of taking charge of her own story.
“When I was asked to speak about my story, I spent a lot of time reflecting: Do I want to be the concussion girl? It was the hardest thing I’ve gone through in my life. And there’s a version of that story where I didn’t make it. But I’ve come to feel that when you’ve come through to the other side, there’s actually a responsibility to share the story, to pass on the message: ‘Don’t give up—keep going.’”
Ryckis says sharing her story has led other people to open up to her about their fears and setbacks. “Resiliency is a daily struggle,” she says. “And it’s never 100% done. You have to understand that leaning into the pain is where the power comes from.”
Vulnerability and transparency are key elements of Ryckis’ approach to an industry that regularly deals with topics like illness and injury that are personal and yet universal. She notes that employees now expect their benefits plans to handle a range of issues and meet them where they live.
