Today we’d like to introduce you to Shannon Rizzo Levan.
Hi Shannon, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My story has never followed a straight path, but looking back, it is easy to see how each chapter was preparing me for the next. Nashville was an important part of that journey. It taught me how to build relationships, trust my instincts, take chances, and begin again when life called for it. There is still so much gratitude for the people, lessons, and opportunities that shaped me there.
Over the years, my work has moved through business, education, health, wellness, and service. The common thread has always been helping people feel seen and creating opportunities where they may not have existed before.
That calling led to the creation of Boundless Foundation. What began with one school in Honduras has grown to 15 schools, serving thousands of children and reaching communities across Honduras, Kenya, Guatemala, Cameroon, and Nepal. None of that happened through one person. It grew through faith, partnerships, local leadership, volunteers, donors, and communities believing in what was possible. Boundless currently reports 15 schools built.
The next chapter is especially exciting as we explore adding small medical clinics to schools we have already built, bringing health and education together more completely for the children and families we serve.
Jesse, my husband, and I have also been grateful to build and support work in Pennsylvania. We have owned and operated a GYMGUYZ franchise, where our local team was featured in Franchise World Magazine in March 2023 for its community work. Separately, we co-founded True Zone Functional Health, a distinct company focused on functional-health education and helping people access independent health and telehealth resources. We have also been blessed to invest in other nonprofit organizations and for profit founders in Tennessee as another way to support people, create opportunities, and help meaningful work ripple into more communities.
This season has included adding Certified Wellness Coach and Reiki Level II practitioner to further my ability to help others. It feels like a more grounded chapter—still dreaming big, but listening more, remaining open to learning, and understanding that meaningful work does not have to be carried alone.
Above all, there is deep thankfulness for every person who has prayed, donated, partnered, trusted us, or simply believed in the vision. The hope moving forward is to keep building bridges between health, education, opportunity, and dignity—and to leave people and places a little better than we found them.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No, it has definitely not been a smooth road. There have been seasons of financial pressure, health challenges, caregiving, business uncertainty, difficult transitions, and moments when trying to support everyone became heavier than I realized.
For a long time, I thought strength meant pushing through, solving every problem, and making sure everyone else was okay. The older I get, the more open I am to learning that real strength can also look like resting, asking for help, setting boundaries, and having the courage to change direction when something no longer feels aligned.
Boundless and entrepreneurship have both taught me that growth is rarely linear. Plans change, resources can be limited, relationships shift, and sometimes the vision is much clearer than the path to reach it. Working across cultures, communities, businesses, and families has required patience, humility, and a willingness to listen deeper before acting.
At the same time, some of the most exciting chapters have come directly from those challenges. A setback can reveal a better direction. A hard season can create a deeper sense of purpose. An unexpected connection can become the beginning of something much bigger than originally imagined. God has a plan for each of us and we can usually only see one piece at a time. As I see where we are heading, I see more clearly where we have been and moreso, the reason why. What a gift having a vision is and a greater one to have courage and support to act on it.
I am still learning, and that is something I value more now than ever. This season feels less about having all the answers and more about staying curious, surrounding myself with thoughtful, kind people, and continuing to take the next meaningful step. The road has been messy, but it has also been full of growth, beautiful surprises, and opportunities I never could have planned on my own.
As you know, we’re big fans of Boundless Foundation. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Boundless Foundation is best known for turning urgent community needs into practical, locally led solutions that protect children and strengthen families for generations.
Our work begins with an invitation. A community contacts one of our trusted in-country partners, shares what is happening, and asks us to walk beside them. We listen first, assess the need with local leaders, and help bring together the partners, funding, materials, and support to build what that community has identified as most important.
Sometimes that is an entire school. Sometimes it is part of a school, a clinic, feeding center, clean-water project, sanitation system, or larger community initiative. What Boundless does best is connect people who want to make a meaningful difference with specific projects that are real, needed, and ready to move forward.
One current project shows exactly why this work matters. Two young girls were kidnapped while traveling a long distance to school, after days, their parents thought it was hopeless to find them. When it happened, the community contacted our in-country partner, who called us immediately. The girls were found, but understandably terrified to leave their neighborhood again, and the lack of a nearby middle school now threatens continued education for them and more than 90 other children.
The community invited Boundless to help build a new closer school. Once the remaining $39,000 is secured, we can have it finished in less than four months. Their school year begins in February 2027; these children walking safely into their new classroom, continuing their education, and growing into the highest versions of themselves is a very possible reality when we all join together.
This is both an education project and an important part of the anti-human trafficking movement we support by building safety when we build schools. Bringing education closer to home reduces dangerous travel, protects vulnerable children, and gives families a safer path forward.
That is what sets Boundless apart. We do not build for communities; we build with them. Elders, families, teachers, and local leaders remain part of the process so that every project belongs to the people it serves.
Readers can become involved in very tangible ways. They can fund part of a classroom, help build an entire school or add-on clinic, support a larger community initiative, or sponsor a feeding center for a month or up to two years. Businesses and professionals can also share expertise, medical resources, introductions, or strategic support through our tele-teach program coming soon.
What makes me proudest is that every project creates more than a building. It creates safety, dignity, opportunity, and the possibility that children will grow into leaders who strengthen their own communities. My greatest vision is that Boundless Foundation will one day be led by the very children who first entered our classrooms as students. technology is making this possible sooner than we thought.
We know what needs to be done, the communities are ready, and the projects are waiting. What we need now are more people willing to walk beside us and help turn those invitations into futures.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
Over the next five to ten years, I believe the biggest shift will be toward more connected, community-led models that bring education, health, nutrition, technology, safety, and economic opportunity together rather than treating them as separate needs.
We already see this through Boundless. When we build a school, THE SCHOOL BECOMES THE HEART of the community. Children learn there during the day, parents attend classes at night, elders gather to plan for the future, and during floods the school may become temporary housing for displaced families. One thoughtfully built space can serve an entire community in ways that extend far beyond education.
Technology will expand that impact even further. Some of our schools now have internet access, creating opportunities for entrepreneurs, teachers, healthcare professionals, and mentors around the world to share knowledge directly with students and local leaders. Greater satellite connectivity, including technology such as Starlink, could bring those same opportunities to even the most remote communities.
That may look like virtual teacher development, entrepreneurship education, student mentorship, or telehealth connections between local healthcare providers and independent licensed clinicians. Through separate and appropriately structured partnerships, organizations such as True Zone Functional Health could help expand access to health education and independent medical resources. A professional anywhere in the United States—or anywhere in the world—could support a teacher, student, entrepreneur, or healthcare provider in Honduras while still honoring the wisdom, culture, and local leadership already present within that community.
Jesse and I lead with our hearts, and that belief is reflected in the work we choose to support. The goal is not simply to deliver a service. It is to help communities grow stronger, deepen their connections, and empower people to care for and uplift those beside them.
I believe the future will belong to organizations that collaborate instead of working in isolation, share resources across borders, and use technology to strengthen human connection rather than replace it. The greatest progress will come from connecting people, ideas, and opportunities in ways that communities can eventually lead, grow, and carry forward for generations.
love to select the ones that match our story the best and make a collage and number them with a description
3. actual sent: Boundless Foundation is best known for turning urgent community needs into practical, locally led solutions that protect children and strengthen families for generations.
Our work begins with an invitation. A community contacts one of our trusted in-country partners, shares what is happening, and asks us to walk beside them. We listen first, assess the need with local leaders, and help bring together the partners, funding, materials, and support to build what that community has identified as most important.
Sometimes that is an entire school. Sometimes it is part of a school, a clinic, feeding center, clean-water project, sanitation system, or larger community initiative. What Boundless does best is connect people who want to make a meaningful difference with specific projects that are real, needed, and ready to move forward.
One current project shows exactly why this work matters. Two young girls were kidnapped while traveling a long distance to school, after days, their parents thought it was hopeless to find them. When it happened, the community contacted our in-country partner, who called us immediately. The girls were found, but understandably terrified to leave their neighborhood again, and the lack of a nearby middle school now threatens continued education for them and more than 90 other children.
The community invited Boundless to help build a new closer school. Once the remaining $39,000 is secured, we can have it finished in less than four months. Their school year begins in February 2027; these children walking safely into their new classroom, continuing their education, and growing into the highest versions of themselves is a very possible reality when we all join together.
This is both an education project and an important part of the anti-human trafficking movement we support by building safety when we build schools. Bringing education closer to home reduces dangerous travel, protects vulnerable children, and gives families a safer path forward.
That is what sets Boundless apart. We do not build for communities; we build with them. Elders, families, teachers, and local leaders remain part of the process so that every project belongs to the people it serves.
Readers can become involved in very tangible ways. They can fund part of a classroom, help build an entire school or add-on clinic, support a larger community initiative, or sponsor a feeding center for a month or up to two years. Businesses and professionals can also share expertise, medical resources, introductions, or strategic support through our tele-teach program coming soon.
What makes me proudest is that every project creates more than a building. It creates safety, dignity, opportunity, and the possibility that children will grow into leaders who strengthen their own communities. My greatest vision is that Boundless Foundation will one day be led by the very children who first entered our classrooms as students. technology is making this possible sooner than we thought.
We know what needs to be done, the communities are ready, and the projects are waiting. What we need now are more people willing to walk beside us and help turn those invitations into futures.
Pricing:
- One time or Monthly Donations of Any Size
- $750/ Month Support Admin Costs for Volunteer Board
- $2000/ Month Support Feeding over 350 children
- $10,000-$25,000 KickStart a School Build
- $63,000 Build an Entire School
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ourboundlessfoundation.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boundlessfoundation/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ourboundlessfoundation
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/boundlessfoundation/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ourboundlessfoundationorg
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acB-NOQCQvc
