Transportation service owner built business from ground up.

It began with one limousine.

A couple of years and two vehicles later, Cynthia Sewell owns or leases and charters sedans, limos, a yacht called My Caribbean Lady, and a party bus that takes South Floridians and tourists alike on sweet rides to their destinations. 

Transportation is Sewell’s business, and she doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty to take care of it.

Among her projects is renovating a large, black Ford E-350 van with tinted windows that she bought on eBay from a business in Texas.

The van’s interior includes black leather seats on either side, with an open walkway down the middle, leading to a flat-screen TV in the back. Strobe lights flash to the beat of the stereo system. There is also a small bar.

Sewell plans to install a smaller TV behind the front passenger seat, and a PlayStation video game console behind the driver’s seat.

The 38-year-old Fort Lauderdale resident seems comfortable with the company she’s built from the ground up.  Her phones seem to ring every ten minutes, a constant reminder of work that she does 24/7.

Aloha Limousines and Yacht Charters was first part of a larger idea to bring customers to and from a spa and salon that Sewell co-owned.  She became much more interested in the business of luxury vehicles themselves.

She gets 25 percent of her business from her website, while the rest she receives by phone, juggling reservations and quotes.

“I’m not the kind of boss that’ll tell someone to go wash a car and fuss at them because we’re running late.
I’m the type of boss that will be washing the car while I fuss,” she said, laughing.

Shelly-Gay Reid, 33, a friend of Sewell’s for ten years, recently became her partner to help manage the company.

“I was very interested in the luxury aspect of the business. Whenever you see a limousine on the street, people always want to know who’s inside,” Reid said.

“Cyndi really makes an effort to teach you things hands on and help you learn the ropes,’’ Reid said. 
“She’s taught me so much about keeping up with potential customers and how to answer any questions they might have.”

As the owner, Sewell wears multiple hats running her company, from selling and marketing to washing and even chauffeuring her clients, and the third shift at the end of the day as mom. She wants her ten-year-old son to share in her achievements.

“When he grows up, hopefully if this continues, he won’t have to go and find a job and just continue to work in this, and if he wants to get his MBA, he could take over one day,” she said.

The beginning was a challenge early on to realize her goal.  She said she felt she should have done more research going into the industry rather than be caught off guard by the high permit and insurance prices.

“There was a point that within months of my buying a new party bus out of Texas, a motorcyclist hit it from behind as I was driving it back to Florida. I was also the one driving when a drunk driver hit my sedan a couple of months later,” Sewell said.

Repairing the dent in the back of her party van is among the renovations she has planned for it.

Sewell thanks God neither incident involved a customer or any serious injuries, but it did make her question whether this career was truly for her. But she knows that, as a professional driver, it comes with the territory.

Challenges have come and gone, and Sewell said she feels that she’s earned her stripes working as an African-American woman and business owner. It’s always important, she said, to maintain perspective in a field where female owners are rare sights.

“What I decided from the beginning was to find a niche that I felt the industry was lacking in my area,” Sewell said. “So, I decided I’d emphasize customer service to make us stand apart.”

This brought on a load of new possibilities for the new entrepreneur, offering services she couldn’t find anyone else addressing, including a business shuttle service for an older crowd going out between West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and South Beach hot spots.

Sewell tries to make it financially viable by charging clients individually rather than as a whole for the shuttle.

“We can take groups to the Hard rock [near Hollywood], Club Mansion in Miami or Blue Martini in West Palm Beach,” Sewell said. “It’s good for them because they can go out and not have to worry about driving and it helps keep drunk drivers off the street.”

It’s the way she keeps ahead of the trends and realizes how far she can go.

When the Miley Cyrus/ Hannah Montana concert came to town, she offered super sweet 16 specials.
Sewell outfitted the limo with flowers, and included sparkling cider for a girl and her party of friends. The total cost was $440 plus gas and gratuity for six hours.

Ultimately, what matters most to Sewell is providing a place for her not only to grow and learn, but to also create something upon which she can build.

“I want to know as much as I can about every aspect of my company, from the bottom up,” Sewell said. “If I know something’s not my forte, I want to watch someone else do it, but more importantly I want to learn to do it myself.’’


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