Boundless Futures Foundation: $50,000 for Female Founders

By Amara Osei

Boundless Futures Foundation gives female founders $50,000 grants and $2,500 learning grants, plus one year of Advisory Circle access, founder Soon Hagerty said.

In an interview, Hagerty described launching a luxury public-relations firm, co-founding a global communications agency and opening The Good Bowl in northern Michigan. She also created Boundless Futures Foundation to provide financial and leadership resources to female founders.

What shaped Soon Hagerty’s businesses?

At age five, Hagerty said, she spent 12 days on a boat with about 40 people fleeing Vietnam. The family then spent six months in a refugee camp in Indonesia, where Hagerty’s mother was several months pregnant.

Hagerty said her father fought in the Vietnam War alongside South Vietnamese and American armies. After the fall of Saigon, opponents of communism were forced into a re-education camp, where no education was available, and her parents left with fake Chinese passports.

The family reached America with $300 and nine people, Hagerty said. Her uncle saved $500 a month for four years while cleaning offices to pay their paperwork, she said.

Her mother first grew Asian fruits and vegetables in the family’s backyard and sold them door to door with Hagerty, she said. After several years at farmers’ markets, the family saved enough to start Mai’s Produce.

On Wednesdays, they drove three hours from Fresno to San Jose in a Tiffany-blue van and approached grocery stores, Hagerty said. Her parents sold bitter melon and eggplant through those doors for 40 years. Hagerty said her mother first recognized that the community lacked the vegetables it wanted, rather than winning through hard work alone.

How did Hagerty enter business?

Hagerty spent seven years at a public-relations agency handling luxury and automotive accounts including Lamborghini before becoming vice president, she said. She and her boss discussed her taking over for months, but he withdrew in the meeting meant to formalize the move.

She had never resigned from a job, Hagerty said, but quit on the spot and cried for 24 hours. Her mentor urged her to start her own business; 48 hours later, she launched her first agency. She now asks what she can leverage from each setback, what value she can create and what lesson it carries.

Why did she open The Good Bowl?

Hagerty said she created The Good Bowl as an ultimate thank-you to parents who gave up everything for the family. After moving from LA to northern Michigan, she missed pho and found none, she said. A friend proposed opening a restaurant and donating proceeds to charity; The Good Bowl now donates $1 per bowl.

She entered the restaurant with zero experience despite already starting two businesses, Hagerty said. She brought in a financial helper because restaurant profit-and-loss statements differed and margins were thin, and she learned from other restaurant owners.

Hagerty said outside growth must not outpace internal growth, and founders need curiosity and discipline to apply what they learn. She frames entrepreneurship as spotting a gap and building value rather than complaining about it.

What does Hagerty say about confidence?

Hagerty said a founder’s most important management task is self-management because everything returns to the founder. She rejects confidence as a prerequisite, arguing that people prove tennis ability through action rather than waiting for certainty. “I think confidence is overrated. You only gain confidence through action,” she said. “There’s no such thing as being fearless. It’s courage. You do it despite fear.”

She spends 10 minutes meditating and journaling each morning before touching a device, Hagerty said. She credits the routine with sharper thinking and clearer communication.

How does Boundless Futures support founders?

Hagerty said the foundation provides a three-part support package:

• A $50,000 grant.
• A $2,500 learning grant for a conference, mentor or classes.
• One year of access to the Advisory Circle, which Hagerty described as experts on speed dial for scaling, production, leadership and PR.

The foundation holds two giving cycles each year, one in spring and one in fall, Hagerty said. She said grantees first meet with a financial expert because they cannot grow a business until their books are in order.

Recipients must develop themselves if they want their companies to grow, Hagerty said. Most grantees tell her that the money is valuable, but the mentorship matters more.

The test for Boundless Futures’ spring and fall cycles is whether year-long mentorship can produce the scaling its grantees seek. So far, Hagerty said, they value that mentorship more than the $50,000 grant.