Ancient Wisdom Modern Love
| Private company | |
| ISIN | 🆔 |
| Industry | Matchmaking, dating services |
| Founded 📆 | |
| Founder 👔 | Cassindy Chao |
| Headquarters 🏙️ | , Albany, California , United States |
Area served 🗺️ | United States |
Key people | Cassindy Chao (founder); Dana Sundblad; Soronny Lee |
| Services | Matchmaking, dating coaching, date concierge |
| Members | |
Number of employees | |
| 🌐 Website | https://www.awmlove.com/ |
| 📇 Address | |
| 📞 telephone | |
Ancient Wisdom Modern Love (also known as AWM Love or AWML) is an American professional matchmaking and dating-coaching service founded by matchmaker and author Cassindy Chao. It is a boutique firm marketing matchmaking and introductions for affluent and professional clients—with a particular focus on Asian and Asian-American professionals—it operates in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and New York City.[1][2][3]
Overview
Ancient Wisdom Modern Love describes itself as a luxury or "VIP" matchmaking service offering personalized introductions rather than app-based or algorithmic matching.[4][2] The company's stated clientele consists of ultra-high-net-worth individuals and educated, ambitious professionals who are seeking long-term relationships.[1][2] Its branding emphasizes that it is "not your grandmother's matchmaker" and that it does not arrange marriages or match families in a traditional sense, but instead seeks lasting romantic connections for individual clients.[1][5]
The firm's name also refers to its founder's book, Ancient Wisdom Modern Love: Chinese Wisdom for Dating Success, which draws on Chinese chengyu (four-character idioms) as a framework for dating advice.[6] Chao identifies herself as a third-generation Chinese matchmaker (紅娘, hóngniáng), citing a family history of matchmaking.[1][7]
History
Cassindy Chao, a Wellesley College graduate and former investment banker at Bear Stearns, J.P. Morgan, and Goldman Sachs, began matchmaking informally as a student, reportedly running an introductions service from her dormitory to arrange dates for area college students.[2][8] According to a 2021 profile in the Piedmont Exedra, she returned to matchmaking after her finance career—including a period in Hong Kong and later at a Silicon Valley startup—and subsequently trained with relationship expert Rachel Greenwald before pursuing it professionally.[8]
Chao later transitioned to matchmaking full-time, a career change covered by Business Insider.[9] The business co-developed with Dana Sundblad, a Wellesley classmate of Chao's who holds an MBA from Harvard and has a background in marketing.[2][10] Promotional materials state that the practice has been matchmaking for more than 15 years and credit it with more than 50 marriages or long-term partnerships.[2][7]
Services
Ancient Wisdom Modern Love offers several tiers of service, including VIP (premier) matchmaking, a dating concierge and coaching service, a Chinese-matchmaker (紅娘) offering, and "dating readiness" programs.[1][2]
The firm operates as a boutique agency in which the founder is personally involved in interviewing and matching, and it states that it limits itself to a small number of active clients—no more than eight at a time—to preserve service quality.[2] Memberships are typically offered as six- or twelve-month packages, with an option to pause.[2]
The described process involves an application and screening, a detailed questionnaire, and one-on-one interviews used to build a profile of the client and of their desired partner.[4][2] Additional offerings include professional photo shoots, personal styling, date curation, and practice ("mock") dates.[11][2] Clients are generally presented with curated matches—about two to four per month—and the firm collects feedback after dates to refine subsequent introductions.[2] The company states that it does not guarantee marriage or a long-term relationship, only quality introductions.[2]
Reception and media coverage
The service and its founder have been featured in various media outlets. Chao appeared on NBC News Daily in October 2025 and on NewsNation in early 2026, and was profiled by Business Insider in a piece on her move from finance to matchmaking.[1][9] Earlier coverage includes a 2021 profile in the Piedmont Exedra and a 2024 interview in Voyage LA.[8][3] The company has also hosted and participated in community events, including mixers and mahjong events tied to organizations such as Asian Health Services.[1]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "Asian Matchmaker Cassindy Chao | SF, LA & NYC", AWM Love (awmlove.com). Retrieved 22 June 2026. https://www.awmlove.com/
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 "VIP Matchmaking – How it Works / FAQ", AWM Love. Retrieved 22 June 2026. https://www.awmlove.com/matchmaking
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Meet Cassindy Chao of Ancient Wisdom Modern Love", Voyage LA Magazine, 11 March 2024. Retrieved 22 June 2026. https://voyagela.com/interview/meet-cassindy-chao-of-ancient-wisdom-modern-love/
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "#1 Matchmaking in San Francisco, CA", AWM Love. Retrieved 22 June 2026. https://www.awmlove.com/matchmaking-in-san-francisco
- ↑ "Los Angeles Elite Matchmaker", AWM Love. Retrieved 22 June 2026. https://www.awmlove.com/losangeles
- ↑ "Ancient Wisdom Modern Love: Chinese Wisdom for Dating & Relationship Success" (book listing), Amazon. Retrieved 22 June 2026. https://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Wisdom-Modern-Love-Relationship/dp/B0CKSG13VD
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "About Cassindy Chao", cassindy.com. Retrieved 22 June 2026. https://www.cassindy.com/about
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "The Dating Game: A professional matchmaker shares advice about finding your match", Piedmont Exedra, March 2021. Retrieved 22 June 2026. https://piedmontexedra.com/2021/03/the-dating-game-a-professional-matchmaker-shares-advice-about-finding-your-match
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "How a Goldman Sachs banker became one of America's top Asian matchmakers", Business Insider, January 2026. Retrieved 22 June 2026. https://www.businessinsider.com/left-finance-side-hustle-matchmaking-54-ageism-2026-1
- ↑ "Matchmaking & Speaking with Cassindy Chao", cassindy.com. Retrieved 22 June 2026. https://www.cassindy.com/home
- ↑ "Matchmaking in New York, NY", AWM Love. Retrieved 22 June 2026. https://www.awmlove.com/matchmaking-in-new-york-ny
