Seung Yong Chung Biography – CEO Behind Cashmere Agency

Seung Yong Chung is a South Korean-American entrepreneur and marketing executive best known as the co-founder and CEO of Cashmere Agency, the Los Angeles-based entertainment marketing firm he launched in 2003 alongside business partner Ted Chung. The Seung Yong Chung biography draws readers partly through his 14-year marriage to actress Diane Farr, but his professional record stands well on its own.

Seung Yong Chung Biography, Career, and Family Facts

Seoul and the United States – The Early Life of Seung Yong Chung

Seung Yong Chung was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1970. His family moved to the United States when he was about two years old, planting him squarely between two cultures from the very start. That early experience of navigating Korean and American life would later shape the way he thought about marketing to diverse audiences.

Seung Yong Chung parents brought different kinds of ambition to the household. His father, Young Ja Chung, served as president of Intraco Korea, a Seoul-based import-export company. His mother, Tae Wha Chung, worked for years as a nurse at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C. Business strategy and personal discipline came at him from both sides.

Chung attended Gaithersburg High School in Maryland, where he developed an early interest in numbers and problem-solving. Growing up as a Korean-American in the United States pushed him to think across cultural lines, a skill that would prove central to his career decades later.

How Seung Yong Chung’s Education Shaped His Business Path

After high school, Chung enrolled at Virginia Tech, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the Pamplin College of Business between 1988 and 1992. Finance gave him an analytical foundation, but he quickly saw that technology was changing how business actually worked.

He went on to George Washington University, completing a Master of Science in Information Systems in 1995. That combination, finance plus tech, put him in a position to understand both the numbers side and the digital infrastructure behind modern marketing. Few people in the mid-1990s had that pairing, and it mattered.

After graduating, Chung built early experience in corporate environments. Public records describe stints at Ernst & Young LLP and NextLinx Corporation, where he worked in business development. Those years in consulting and tech gave him a close look at how large organizations operate, and what they get wrong when trying to reach people.

Co-Founding Cashmere Agency with Ted Chung in 2003

The turning point came in 2003. Seung Yong Chung co-founded Cashmere Agency in Los Angeles with Ted Chung, who served as the agency’s Founder and Chairman while Seung took the Co-Founder and CEO role. Their goal was specific: build a marketing firm that connected brands to audiences through culture, not just product messaging. At the time, most agencies treated multicultural marketing as an afterthought. Cashmere treated it as the whole point.

The early years were lean. Building a new agency in a competitive city with a niche approach takes time. But Chung’s background bridging Korean and American perspectives gave Cashmere something real to offer clients who needed to reach audiences that generic campaigns kept missing.

Over the following decade and a half, the agency grew into a respected name across entertainment marketing. Cashmere built a client roster that includes Google, Instagram, Facebook, BMW of North America, Taco Bell, Heineken, DoorDash, WarnerMedia, Amazon, Hulu, Disney, Apple TV+, Netflix, Universal Pictures, FX, and CBS, among others. These aren’t fringe accounts. That list reflects a firm operating near the top of the industry.

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Cashmere Agency’s Career Highlights and Industry Recognition

The awards Cashmere collected under Chung’s leadership confirmed what clients already knew. In 2019, AdAge named Cashmere its Multicultural Agency of the Year, one of the most credible recognitions in the advertising business. That same year, the agency received a Cannes Lions Creative Award, which ranks among the highest honors in global advertising. Cashmere also collected Clio Awards, Webby Awards, and recognition from AdColor and Goldhouse’s A100, a list honoring Asian Pacific leaders in business and entertainment.

AdAge returned to Cashmere in 2020, placing it on the A-List Agencies to Watch, and again in 2021 as an A-List Standout Agency. Three consecutive years of AdAge recognition is not accidental. It reflects a consistent body of work that the industry kept noticing.

The firm’s approach centered on what Chung described through his agency’s positioning: cultural fluency as a competitive edge. Cashmere built campaigns around music, film, television, and youth culture, helping brands speak to audiences who could spot inauthenticity instantly.

In September 2021, S4Capital announced a merger with Cashmere, bringing the agency into its Media.Monks network. S4Capital Executive Chairman Sir Martin Sorrell stated publicly that Cashmere’s ability to translate contemporary culture into compelling content and reach diverse audiences was a rare talent. That acquisition marked a significant milestone for an agency that started with two founders and a clear idea in 2003.

Where Seung Yong Chung Stands in Entertainment Marketing

Chung built Cashmere into one of the most recognized multicultural marketing agencies in the United States over roughly 18 years. Most independent agencies never achieve the kind of industry recognition Cashmere collected, and fewer still attract the attention of a global group like S4Capital. His career placed him in a relatively small group of marketing executives who built genuinely influential culture-focused agencies from scratch in Los Angeles.

His background as a Korean-American who moved to the U.S. at age two gave him a lived understanding of how identity and culture intersect, something that many marketing executives talk about but fewer bring through personal experience. That combination of academic training in finance and technology, early consulting experience, and cultural intelligence became the foundation of what Cashmere delivered for over two decades.

Seung Yong Chung’s Marriage to Diane Farr and Family Life

Many readers find Seung Yong Chung through his connection to actress and writer Diane Farr. The two began dating in the mid-2000s. They got engaged on October 29, 2005, and married on June 24, 2006, in Mammoth Lakes, California. Farr is an American actress best known for playing FBI agent Megan Reeves in the CBS drama NUMB3RS (2005–2009) and firefighter Laura Miles in Rescue Me (2004–2005). She has also written publicly about her relationship and family life.

Together, Seung and Diane Farr have three children. Their son, Beckett Mancuso Chung, came first. Their twin daughters, Sawyer Lucia Chung and Coco Trinity Chung, followed. Chung and Diane Farr divorced in 2020 after 14 years of marriage. Public accounts describe an amicable co-parenting arrangement following the split.

Chung has kept his personal life largely private throughout his career. He stays off social media and tends to avoid public events outside his professional work. For someone who co-built one of the most recognised multicultural marketing agencies in the country, Chung has kept an unusually low personal profile.

Seung Yong Chung’s Net Worth and Financial Overview

Multiple biography sources cite Seung Yong Chung’s estimated net worth at around $20 million, reflecting income built through Cashmere Agency’s client work, growth, and the S4Capital merger. Public sources produced these estimates; Chung has not confirmed any figure through official financial disclosure.

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Chung does not discuss his personal finances publicly, and no official disclosure exists to verify the figure.

Why Seung Yong Chung’s Career at Cashmere Agency Defines His Public Story

Plenty of people first search for Seung Yong Chung because of his marriage to Diane Farr. But what the Seung Yong Chung biography actually reveals is a businessman who built something genuinely meaningful in entertainment marketing, long before celebrity association gave him any name recognition.

Starting with a finance and information systems background, moving through corporate consulting, and then co-founding an agency in 2003 that would go on to win Cannes Lions awards, AdAge honors, and ultimately a merger with a global marketing group, his career follows a clear and logical arc. The recognition Cashmere collected between 2019 and 2021 alone would be a career highlight for most marketing executives.

He built a company in a space that the industry largely undervalued and proved, over 18 years, that cultural fluency is a real business advantage. That record holds up independently of who he married or divorced.

Editorial note: This article draws on publicly available information, including verified media reports, an official BusinessWire press release from S4Capital, industry award records, and publicly accessible career profiles. Some personal details, including exact birth date and current financial figures, are not officially confirmed. Where information is limited or unverified, this article avoids speculation. Biography details may change as new public information becomes available.