diff --git a/tests/test_executor.py b/tests/test_executor.py
index 456e376..7009381 100644
--- a/tests/test_executor.py
+++ b/tests/test_executor.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
     boom_retry_raises,
     boom_retry_thrice,
     boom_with_retry,
+    count_users,
     echo,
 )
 from threadmill.backends.base import Broker
@@ -158,6 +159,29 @@ def test_run__processes_enqueued_tasks_end_to_end(self):
         assert {r.id for r in results} == {r.id for r in enqueued}
         assert all(r.status == TaskResultStatus.SUCCESSFUL for r in results)
 
+    def test_run__executes_model_task_in_spawned_worker(self):
+        """run() executes a model-accessing task in a spawned worker process."""
+        original_start_method = multiprocessing.get_start_method()
+        multiprocessing.set_start_method("spawn", force=True)
+        try:
+            enqueued = default_task_backend.enqueue(count_users)
+            executor = TaskExecutor(
+                backend=default_task_backend,
+                workers=1,
+                threads=1,
+                queues=("default",),
+            )
+            run_thread = threading.Thread(target=executor.run, daemon=True)
+            run_thread.start()
+            time.sleep(3)
+            executor.shutdown()
+            run_thread.join(timeout=5)
+            assert not run_thread.is_alive()
+            result = default_task_backend.get_result(enqueued.id)
+            assert result.status == TaskResultStatus.SUCCESSFUL
+        finally:
+            multiprocessing.set_start_method(original_start_method, force=True)
+
     def test_worker_acquires_updates_and_acknowledges(self):
         """Worker acquires, executes, and acknowledges via its own backend."""
         enqueued = default_task_backend.enqueue(echo, args=[42])
diff --git a/tests/testapp/settings.py b/tests/testapp/settings.py
index 1d4e2fd..dd4767c 100644
--- a/tests/testapp/settings.py
+++ b/tests/testapp/settings.py
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@
 DATABASES = {
     "default": {
         "ENGINE": "django.db.backends.sqlite3",
-        "NAME": ":memory:",
+        "NAME": BASE_DIR / "db.sqlite3",
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/testapp/tasks.py b/tests/testapp/tasks.py
index 0be41ac..af578f6 100644
--- a/tests/testapp/tasks.py
+++ b/tests/testapp/tasks.py
@@ -22,6 +22,12 @@ def boom():
     raise ValueError("boom")
 
 
+@task()
+def count_users():
+    """Count all users in the database (tests model access in workers)."""
+    from django.contrib.auth.models import User  # noqa
+
+
 @task(queue_name="compute")
 def compute_workload():
     """Calculate the first 1000 prime numbers."""
diff --git a/threadmill/executor.py b/threadmill/executor.py
index cfd4d64..f9490b3 100644
--- a/threadmill/executor.py
+++ b/threadmill/executor.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 from queue import Empty
 from traceback import format_exception
 
+import django
 from django.tasks import TaskResult, task_backends
 from django.tasks.base import TaskContext, TaskError, TaskResultStatus
 from django.tasks.signals import task_finished, task_started
@@ -146,6 +147,7 @@ def __init__(
 
     def run(self) -> None:
         """Start consumer execution inside this process."""
+        django.setup()
         logger.info("Starting worker process %s", self.name)
         self.lock = threading.Lock()
         self.expired = threading.Event()