At 17, Stephen Cuevas dropped out of high school and made two big promises to his mom.
“I had a big head,” he admits. “I told her, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll get my GED, and everything will be fine.’”
But life hit hard from 17 into his early 30s.
“My 20s were a nightmare,” Stephen says. “I didn’t mature and truly grow until my early 30s. In my 20s, I carried a lot on my shoulders.”
A Search for Stability
“I fought hard to build a decent living,” Stephen says. “After dropping out, I took whatever work I could find—security, dog training, even working at a paper factory. I was a pretty bad employee with defined issues.”
Born in Miami, Fla., Stephen bounced from job to job, and nothing ever stuck.
“A lot of my failures came from not liking how things were run—or just losing interest,” he admits. “I remember building cargo trailers, starting from the frame up. If I thought there was an easier or quicker way to do something, I’d get yelled at: ‘That’s not how we do things. We’ve been doing it this way for years.’ When the summer heat hit, I was done.”
What Stephen lacked in passion, he made up for in perseverance. No matter how many jobs he left behind, he never stopped searching for something that spoke to him. Through it all, one thing kept him going: his promise to himself. He refused to end up like his father—a man he had never met. By 22, that promise was put to the test.
A Search for Self-Love
“I had one kid at 22 and another at 25, with different women,” Stephen shares. “It was stressful because I hated not being around them, not seeing them as much as I wanted. I felt like a failure, so I started distancing myself emotionally.”
He wanted to be there for his kids, but reality made it difficult. He had spent years running—from jobs, from structure, from anything that felt like a trap. But this was different. This was something he couldn’t walk away from.
“I was a young, immature dad just trying to figure it out,” Stephen shares, tearing up. “All I had was work and the opportunity to provide for them, even if they lived in different states and didn’t know me. At the very least, I wanted to make sure they had what they needed.”
As the weight of becoming what he feared grew, so did the financial weight of his inability to stay put at one job.
“Debt really started to pile up,” Stephen says. “I declared bankruptcy at 25, right after my second daughter was born.”
With every passing year, his debt mounted, and his chances to make things right seemed to slip further away. By his early 30s, he was a father of four, and his parenting efforts stretched thin across multiple states. The concepts of self-care, self-love, and grace faded with each day. Stephen was disconnected—from others and himself—trying to be present in their lives while still struggling to carve out his own.
A Search for A Better Life
At 32, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, everything changed when Stephen’s ex-wife had her Ford Edge tinted.
“They charged $600 or $700, and the guy was done in two and a half hours,” Stephen remembers.
The project flipped a switch. Stephen had grown up around his uncle Juan—a father figure who loved customized trucks and cars—but this was different. This wasn’t just passion; it was opportunity.
“I knew I wanted to pursue it,” he adds.
A Search for Brighter Days and Darker Nights
Determined to learn the trade, Stephen started visiting local tint shops, gauging whether it was worth getting into.
“Mitchell Hall, Owner of Mitchell’s Tinting in Port Orange, Fla., gave me my start,” Stephen says. “He taught me everything I learned in the beginning. I owe everything to that guy—great guy.”
For two and a half years, he worked as an installer for several shops, honing his skills through hands-on experience rather than a structured career path. Then, in July 2022, after relocating to Virginia to be closer to family, he founded his first business: Dark Nights Tinting.
“My favorite movie is The Dark Knight, directed by Christopher Nolan,” Stephen shares. “One night, I was just sitting on the couch, trying to come up with a name. I didn’t want something traditional.”
It was a fitting choice—because Stephen’s journey was anything but traditional. A high school dropout who never followed the expected path, he carved his own way forward, proving that success doesn’t always come with a roadmap. And it often doesn’t happen overnight.
“I finally got my life together and set my focus on one thing—becoming the best installer I can be,” he says. “My favorite part is watching a customer experience tint for the first time—the moment their mind is blown by the transformation, from the comfort to the new look.”
Just as a simple tint job on a Ford Edge set his journey in motion, a Mercedes-Benz GLA SUV brought an unexpected connection that changed his life in a different way.
“Alexis Davis first came into my life as a customer looking for window tint,” Stephen says with a smile. “We hit it off right away, but at first, it was just business. We played phone tag for months because she was always traveling. Then, when she finally came into the shop to get her car tinted, we fell in love. She’s my anchor.”
A Search For Stillness
After successfully building Dark Nights Tinting, Stephen and Alexis set their sights on a fresh start—moving to South Carolina to launch a new business and chapter in their lives. Starting from scratch in Murrells Inlet, Stephen started Black Label Films.
“With Black Label, I wanted to cater specifically to luxury car owners,” says Stephen, who specializes in automotive window tint. “I’ve been with Autobahn since the beginning of Dark Nights, and I genuinely believe it’s the most premium brand in the industry. I wanted my business to reflect that level of quality.”
Four years into his new window tinting journey, Stephen now sees himself in the young tinters starting out—just as he once did under Mitchell Hall’s guidance in Florida.
“We recently had a walk-in who said he wanted to learn how to tint,” shares Stephen, who now has a two-bay shop spanning 1,200 square feet. “For the last two weeks, he’s been my shadow, watching and learning. Who knows? He might just become my first employee.”
A Search for Mended Branches
At 37, Stephen is now 20 years removed from the promises he made as a 17-year-old high school dropout. Life didn’t follow a straight path, and neither did his search for purpose. His two ex-wives and four kids live in different states, and his mother is now in Virginia. On paper, his family tree may seem fractured—branches broken, some connections still mending.
He’s still paying off debts, still working to bridge the gaps between him and the people he loves. But for the first time, his heart feels whole. Not because he has everything, but because he finally has more to give—to himself and to those who matter most.
“I’m playing the long game,” Stephen shares. “My end goal would be to show my kids South Carolina and explore all it has to offer and be able to share new and exciting experiences with them. I’ve seen the success of others, so I know it’s achievable. That’s what I’m working toward.”