Haruka Okumura

Representative Director, Certified NPO The Third Family

Representative of Certified NPO NPO The Third Family. After working as a Product Designer at LINE Corporation, she formally incorporated The Third Family as an NPO in 2023, continuing the work she had begun as a student. Member of the Children and Families Agency's Safe Spaces Committee. Awards include Forbes JAPAN 30 UNDER 30 2023 “30 Under 30 Changing the World,” Youth National Honor Award — Minister of Education Prize, GOOD DESIGN NEW HOPE AWARD Best Award, and Yokohama Gender Equality Contribution Award.

The catalyst for her work was losing her younger brother to suicide during her second year of university. For a year she was unable to do anything, but drawing on her love of making things, she tried building a message board for people struggling with their home environment — and far more people gathered than she expected. While receiving heartfelt messages of thanks, she also realized the gravity of the issues people were facing, and felt she had to do more. She left her first job at LINE Corporation and founded NPO The Third Family (Daisan no kazoku). Today she is not driven by her own past, but is fully absorbed in creating better circumstances alongside the teenagers who fall through the cracks.

• Forbes JAPAN 30 UNDER 30 “30 Under 30 Changing the World” 2023
• 39th Youth National Honor Award — Minister of Education Prize
• GOOD DESIGN NEW HOPE AWARD 2022 — Best Award
• Asia Digital Award Fukuoka 2021 — Finalist
• Hosei University Faculty of Science and Engineering Alumni Academic Excellence Award

• 1999.08 Born
• 2018.04–2022.03 Hosei University, Faculty of Design and Engineering
• 2021.01 Loss of younger brother
• 2022.03 NPO The Third Family activities begin (gedokun launched)
• 2022.04–2023.09 Product Designer at LINE Corporation
• 2023.03 NPO The Third Family (Daisan no kazoku) established
• 2023.09–2024.03 Kao Social Entrepreneurship Program
• 2025.04– Member, Children and Families Agency Safe Spaces Committee

• Bunshun Online — Interview with Haruka Okumura, Representative of “NPO The Third Family” #1
• Asahi Shimbun SDGs ACTION! — “NPO The Third Family”: A place struggling children can always drop by
• JDN — “Aiming to be a third presence for teenagers' independence — GOOD DESIGN NEW HOPE AWARD Best Award” (2023)

Art and rock music