Women's Entrepreneurship Day: Celebrating the Female Entrepreneurs of Rice Business

In honor of Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, we’re proud to celebrate the incredible female entrepreneurs in our community. Recently ranked as the No. 1 graduate entrepreneurship program for our sixth consecutive year, it’s no surprise that we have so many talented women leading innovative businesses.

Hear From Some of Our Student Entrepreneurs

BECKY JACKSON
Founder & CEO of ONGUARD

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What is your business or idea, and what inspired you to create it?

ONGUARD is a platform that helps businesses and individuals easily book licensed, off-duty police officers and security professionals for their events. I’m committed to making personal security services more accessible and affordable.

What unique strengths do you think women bring to entrepreneurship, and how have they contributed to your success? 

I believe female entrepreneurs exemplify strengths like empathy, exceptional relationship-building, adaptability, meticulous attention to detail and remarkable resilience. As a founder and leader, I aim to cultivate empathy, collaborative leadership and strong relationships to drive growth and innovation.

What’s a lesson or piece of advice you wish you’d known when you started out as an entrepreneur? 

You are never too old, too experienced or too established to reinvent yourself, launch a business or solve a problem that ignites your spirit. Many aspiring entrepreneurs get stuck comparing themselves to young tech founders or viral success stories. But the most compelling entrepreneurial journeys are those fueled by lived experience, deep industry knowledge and genuine passion. Your age is not a limitation — it's your greatest competitive advantage. After all, Vera Wang entered fashion design at 40!

KATHLEEN PERLEY
Founder & CEO of DemystifAI

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What is your business or idea, and what inspired you to create it?

My new company, DemystifAI, is an AI education and consulting company dedicated to helping businesses unlock their untapped potential through the strategic adoption of artificial intelligence. The idea for the company came to me while teaching my first class at Rice University, where I fell in love with helping people overcome the intimidation factor of AI and identify pilot projects that drive meaningful results for their business.

What unique strengths do you think women bring to entrepreneurship, and how have they contributed to your success? 

My ability to juggle multiple tasks and build connections has been a major strength that significantly contributed to the success of my first business, DECODE. As an entrepreneur, especially in the early days, I had to wear many hats, so multitasking was crucial for our growth. Additionally, building connections not only helped me attract great talent over the years but also led me to a mentor who assisted me in selling the company to private equity 18 months ago.

What’s a lesson or piece of advice you wish you’d known when you started out as an entrepreneur? 

Part of the reason I sold the company was that, as a young female entrepreneur, I felt I might be holding my team back, thinking the company needed a more formal CEO to lead over 70 employees. While I don’t regret selling, I realize in hindsight that I let imposter syndrome get the best of me. My advice to all female entrepreneurs is: don’t let feelings of imposter syndrome stand in the way of achieving your success.

VENI PETER
Founder & CEO in Healthcare Industry

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What is your business or idea, and what inspired you to create it?

I once had an illness that required me to drive nearly three hours every week for adequate medical care. So, I quit my job at Amazon, acquired brick-and-mortar medical practices around rural India and converted their services online to increase accessibility to basic medical care and diagnostics! I solved my own problem, not realizing at the time that it was a significant issue for many others as well.

What unique strengths do you think women bring to entrepreneurship, and how have they contributed to your success? 

Women excel at incorporating high emotional intelligence into their leadership style, making them highly successful and impactful leaders.

What’s a lesson or piece of advice you wish you’d known when you started out as an entrepreneur?

Fail more! We learn more from our failures than our successes. We as women have a lot to prove and put a lot of pressure on ourselves to succeed every time. Give yourself space to fail.