When Aurore Charles first joined the Sunshine team at the Fort Lauderdale- Hollywood Airport in 1993, her duties as the office manager required a lot of paperwork. Today, technology and the growth of the team have changed her job dramatically, but she still beams with pride about her role as she gets ready to celebrate her 30th anniversary with the company in September.
“It’s a whole different world; there’s no more paper,” she said, explaining that among her many responsibilities are ensuring that all 300-plus Sunshine airport staffers have the proper credentials and have completed the required training. What hasn’t changed, she emphasizes, is the family culture of the company.
“Sunshine is like a family,” she explained, recalling that Sunshine’s Founder, Larry Calufetti, was like a brother to her. “He really understood his employees and the importance of the little things, like remembering everyone’s names. He never saw us as just workers.”
That family culture remains today and is the reason Aurore says she has stayed for so long. In the early days, she recalls the company allowing her flexible hours to pick her children up from school then expanding her job to full-time once they were older.
“I could write a book with all of my Sunshine stories,” she quipped. “It’s like home to me.”
The Lauderhill resident is the mother of two grown daughters, one who works in marketing for Delta in Atlanta and the other a nurse in South Florida.
