Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Demarest.
Hi Emily, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
When I started working, my life goal was to build a beach house. I grew up in the mountains in Sylva, NC – a very small town famous for raising kayakers and being a filming location for movies with creepy mountain people. We visited the beach once a year as an extended family and it was my happy place from the beginning – the place you go in your mind when you’re getting a shot as a kid, where you imagine being when the lunchroom cafeteria is lonely, the place you want to take your college boyfriend to if it’s getting serious.
After attending UNC Chapel Hill, I moved to Boston and began a career in medical communications that has allowed me to travel to more than 50 countries over the last 15 years. Every year, I still came to Brunswick Island Beaches at least once a year, and as life allowed, more frequently. I loved the rental home catalogs and taking long drives down the side streets of various beaches, imagining what life in Adirondack chairs on this street might feel like. While other parts of the world offered glorious experiences and vistas, nothing brought the same peace and recharge I felt when visiting the Brunswick County islands.
When I met my now husband in Boston, I convinced him to move the Triangle in NC. We are completely in love with life in Raleigh. We feel so lucky to be part of this gem of a community, culture, economy, and environmental landscape. We both manage demanding jobs, are raising two young boys, caring for aging parents, and navigating the complexities of a world that feels quite volatile these days. We try to remain grateful and in tune with how much easier life is surrounded by the beautiful state of North Carolina.
As saving for the beach house became more feasible, I set a goal to see the vision come to fruition by the time I turned 40. Designing the home and interior was a great joy and a long process, curated over the course of about three years—before I even found the land we would build on. There were many secret trips to small NC towns and stashed treasures in attics and storage closets as my husband didn’t exactly approve of buying the light fixture for the home that hadn’t yet broken ground… The home features furniture sourced from 25 towns throughout North Carolina, with many regional vendors contributing to its building process: from architects and craftspeople to the artwork, pest control, cleaning crew, and handyman. It carefully curated with history, passion, and character.
The house has been open for booking since November 2022 – the year I turned 40. It is named “SeaSons on the Point” (for my two boys, who I hope will keep coming to “sea” us there as they grow; and the far west end of Oak Island is called “The Point”). The home has 360-degree views of the water—nestled in the sweet spot by both the intercoastal waterway and the ocean.
We have already created so many wonderful memories with family and friends. The home has created a respite beyond my wildest imagination. The home sleeps up to 20 and has a private pool and hot tub, six decks, an open beam floor plan, fully stocked kitchen, private beach access, and displays artwork featuring pieces from Charleston artist Karen Olah and a good friend, Laura Lobdell from Printed Hues, both of whom created custom pieces specifically for SeaSons.
When I categorize the joy the home and experience have brought, there are the memories from our family and friends, the stories from guests who have enjoyed stays with their people, the wonderful relationships built with local entrepreneurs and others passionate about the great state of NC, but at the very top of the list is that the realization of this dream is even better than I imagined it would be. In a world filled with insatiable desire, it feels so very good to sit in delightful content and watch the tide come in.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There are no smooth roads, but I’ve always had a car and a license to navigate the bumps. What I mean by that is -my dream was my own, and no one was going to hand it to me, and we’ve worked hard to earn the means to realize our goals. But also, I’ve navigated adulthood with the privilege of a degree from UNC that sent me into a successful career without student loans. I had health care insurance, and I’ve had mentors and people who believed in me. That stability has given me the confidence and protection to navigate my future boldly. I not only recognize the gift that has been in my life but now enjoy the opportunity to pay that privilege forward.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
By the time I was eight, I was probably rearranging my bedroom monthly. I knew I wanted to be an interior designer, and I felt strongly that the angle of my bed had a direct impact on my happiness and well-being. The film developed from my disposable cameras on family vacations looked like a real estate catalog. My core memories from new places visited as a child are of the feel of the carpet on stairs, the fabric of a shower curtain, the way the streetlight came across a desk in the bedroom. I don’t honestly remember much about the people – much less what they were saying. As a kid, I was immersed in the spaces, and from an early age, design and aesthetics was a strength. I never questioned that interior design was my love and my passion.
And then, around age 15, some part of me realized that the title interior designer wasn’t strong enough to counter my other insecurities. Coming from a family of academics and advanced degrees, the Thanksgiving table cringed enough already about my activities as a cheerleader and later sorority vice president. Something must be done to establish credibility else I felt destined for a life of assumed superficiality and irrelevance.
And so, I took an internship at the Governor’s Office, then worked in child abuse and neglect, then quality improvement in health care for children, then medical communications for quality improvement in all health care sectors, then clinical research, and now I serve as SVP of Medical for one of the top 15 medical communications agencies in the world.
I love what I do. What I have learned is that I love discovering what smart, kind humans need from systems and organizational cultures and helping to implement elegant solutions that add meaning to their lives as well as a bigger purpose. I crave the intellectual stimulation of complex organizational challenges, and I greatly enjoy the brilliant people I have the privilege to work alongside.
I haven’t fully neglected my first passion for interior design. I try to remember that life is not a straight path; it isn’t even a winding narrow road. The road can be as broad and wide as you design it to be. And so I try to fit in more and more of the design I love at each new stage. We built and designed our custom home in Raleigh 10 years ago; it was such great fun. I’ve helped numerous friends and family purchase, renovate, and/or redesign. The beach house was my favorite project to date. Right now, my dad is gut renovating our childhood home in the mountains for what will be a beautiful rental surrounded by Blue Ridge mountains. He is allowing me to do the redesign, and I am so excited to have a new project.
Most importantly, I get to help my kids understand my journey in retrospect – that titles don’t matter, and neither does anyone else’s feeling about credibility of your passion. Find what you love, show insecurity and judgment the door, and know that I will love you and support you along the journey.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I’m the middle of three girls. That probably tells you a lot, but to paint a more detailed picture, I’m the reason we had rules. I was actually very well-behaved. It wasn’t my fault my older sister was a saint. I was inquisitive, humor was and is my currency, and I was always up for an adventure. My dad used to say I would drive with him to the dump if that was the only option on the table.
As I grew older, I knew I wanted to leave the small NC town and was solidly resentful that my parents didn’t raise us in Paris. I worked hard in school, signed up for every possible chance to get out of town, and eventually made it to UNC and then Boston.
In retrospect, it was a beautiful, safe, healthy place to grow up. I thrived under the watchful eyes of precisely 500 nosey adults, some exceptional teachers, parents who made their love for me known and set high expectations, no social media, and not an insubstantial amount of time hanging out with trucks in fields.
Last week, I took the boys to the mountains, and we drove the parkway, went gem mining, and swam in the pond. My dad is in awe that all three of his girls have become so successful by traditional standards. Looking out at the mountains from the front porch, he says – I guess it’s no surprise really, you woke up every morning in admiration not intimidation of big mountains.
Pricing:
- Weekly rental at the beach house ranges from 5,600-18,000
Contact Info:
- Website: www.6923kingslynn.com
- Instagram: seasonsatthepoint
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/SeaSonsAtThePoint
Image Credits
Laura Glanz Photography
Lighthouse Visuals
