How a Disney Skater Became a Startup Founder feat. Becky Jackson ’25

As the first figure skater to play Elsa in Disney On Ice’s Frozen and now a pioneer in the private security industry, Becky Jackson knows a thing or two about creating something from scratch. 

Before earning an MBA at Rice and becoming an entrepreneur, Becky had an illustrious figure skating career with Team USA and Disney. Now, she’s revolutionizing the way private security contractors reach clients with her company ONGUARD. 

Becky joins co-host Brian Jackson ’21 to chat about her journey — from discovering her passion for skating at age 7 and traveling the world with Disney on Ice to founding a business that works with local law enforcement and veterans to make private security more accessible.  

 

Episode Guide:

00:00 Introduction to Becky Jackson

02:05 Early Life and Figure Skating Journey

04:03 Professional Career With Disney on Ice

08:56 Transition to Business and Consulting

11:57 Pursuing an MBA at Rice University

14:07 Founding ONGUARD

16:34 ONGUARD’s Mission and Future

22:35 Connection With Veterans and Pitch Competitions

23:54 Reflections on Entrepreneurship and Teamwork

30:10 Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

Owl Have You Know is a production of Rice Business and is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

Lessons from being a solo founder

24:49: Being a solo founder, I've learned the importance of a team, and how essential it is to have a really strong team with you. And so I think, in that respect, the experience with Disney always was—so incredibly grateful to be surrounded by artists and engineers who really love and, you know, are really committed to their work. And so that's been an important lesson for me: that you can't just go it alone. You can't just brute-force your way into starting a company. You really need to listen to experts. You need to know when to bring in the right people. And so, I think it's been a tougher journey for that, just kind of starting this off solo. But I quickly learned—and, you know, being at Rice helped me learn that too—is that, no, you need to learn to delegate, and you need to really tap into the network and the world around you.

You’re never too old to go chase a dream

27:32: You can really use the skills, but more importantly, the network to do anything that you, you know, really want to do. And something that I'm passionate about is that during my time at Rice, we had the slogan, “Rice Business, You Belong Here.” And that means, you know, can mean so much to everyone. It can mean something different. But for me, I always took the chance to think about it in terms of age, and that you're never too old to go chase a dream, or you're not too advanced in your career to start something new. And I think that's an important message that I always tell prospective students.

How Becky found consulting after skating

09:19: One thing I knew for sure is I wanted to work in some kind of, you know, dynamic environment. I had come from tour that was one city after the next, and it was traveling and meeting new people and new challenges every week. And so that's—that's where I landed in the world of consulting. I thought, oh, great—like traveling every week, new challenges, a lot of ambiguity. And so I thought that—that that's the thing for me.

Show Links: 

• Transcript

Guest Profiles:

• Becky Jackson | LinkedIn
• ONGUARD