The Lagos Family

My family first moved to Emerald Isle in the late 1980s—just the three of us: my mom, my sister, and me. While life took us in different directions over the years, all three of us eventually made our way back to Carteret County. My sister, Lori Beth Sanborn, and her family live in Morehead City, where they run Sanborn Orthodontics. My mother, Judy O’Neill, was a strategic part of the early Spinnaker’s Reach development and still lives along Sound Drive. Emerald Isle has always had a strong pull for our family—and I’m proud to call it home.

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After graduating from West Carteret High School, I went on to study at NC State. My path took me far from the coast for a while—first to Lake Tahoe to explore mountain life, then to Indiana for a job in my field of study. But I quickly realized the Midwest wasn’t for me, and I came home to North Carolina in 2004. In 2005, I opened a retail and interior design store called To the Beat—right in the location that’s now A Touch of Magic Flooring. After closing that business in 2009, I moved to Washington, D.C., where I began working for a boutique hotel group. That experience deepened my love of hospitality and gave me a chance to work with people from all over the world.

I met my husband, Matias Lagos, while living in D.C., and his career eventually took us to the Los Angeles area. When he proposed, we began planning our move back to Emerald Isle. We bought our home on Bogue Sound Drive and have been here ever since. Both of our careers shifted when we joined the team at Spinnaker’s Reach Realty, where we've worked side-by-side to grow the company into a vacation rental agency focused on hyper-personalized service for both guests and property owners.

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My interest in local government and tourism began when I joined the Carteret County Tourism Development Authority (CCTDA) more than six years ago. I originally joined to better understand how the county operates and to ensure our business was aligned with broader tourism goals. What I’ve learned has been eye-opening: our area continues to break tourism revenue records, even when visitor numbers plateau. Emerald Isle is thriving—and how we manage that growth matters. It matters in how we welcome people, how we preserve our quality of life, and how we fund and support the services our residents rely on.

 

Matias and I are now raising our two children, Tomas and Pilar, who attend White Oak Elementary. They’ve been part of Emerald Isle’s Parks and Rec programs since they were old enough to join, and they’ve grown up biking the paths for ice cream, playing at the town’s parks, and waving at the EIPD officer who follows the school bus each morning. Moments like that remind me how lucky we are to live here—and how important it is to protect and shape that experience for generations to come.

 

The decision to run for Mayor is a personal one. I want to do my part to make sure the everyday magic my family experiences in Emerald Isle is preserved for the future. But I also see opportunity—opportunity for this town to continue growing in ways that reflect our values, honor our coastal identity, and build deeper connections between longtime locals and newer residents. Emerald Isle is a special place—and I want to help keep it that way.