CO-FOUNDER / CHIEF BRAND OFFICER

Megumi Aoki

Megumi Aoki is Co-founder and Chief Brand Officer of Ignitus, where she leads brand and creative direction across the company's portfolio.

Megumi founded THRIVAL Inc. in Tokyo in 2018, and over seven years built and operated two consumer brands, leading both end to end — from concept and brand development through design to day-to-day operations. With KAWA KITCHEN, a café-restaurant, she led the project from site selection through concept development, commissioned Pritzker Prize-winning architect Kengo Kuma to design the space, and ran its operations. With Sustainable., a plastic-free lifestyle brand, she created the brand and its products — from concept and packaging design to retail — staging more than 40 pop-ups at Japan's leading department stores and a collaboration with Cathay Pacific.

Her passion has always been designing how people live. In Tokyo, she spent seven years creating the contents of daily life — brands, products, and café spaces built around food, wellness, and the rituals of everyday living. At Ignitus, she designs the places where life happens: paying close attention to how people want to live, and giving that shape — in the belief that the right space doesn't just house a life, but enriches it.

In 2026, Megumi co-founded Ignitus Group in Los Angeles, bringing her experience across brand, design, and operations to real estate.

Megumi has spoken on social entrepreneurship, women's leadership, and sustainability at forums including GLOBAL FESTA, hosted by Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the University of Tokyo's Global Leader Development Program. She serves as a councilor of the William Glasser Memorial Foundation and the Satoshi Aoki Keiiku Foundation.

Megumi studied International Business at Temple University, with a year of study at Yonsei University in Seoul. She is fluent in Japanese, English, and Korean, and is based between Los Angeles and Tokyo.