Esthetics Student Success Story: Leaf Fishbaugh

About Leaf Fishbaugh

Leaf Fishbaugh used to look forward to their esthetician appointments. Facials on birthdays. Spa days on vacation. That full hour of being completely taken care of. “Luxuriating in how pampered and luscious it made me feel,” as they put it. It was their kind of self-care, and they loved every bit of it.

Lashes by Leaf Fishbaugh

Then they came out as nonbinary, and walking back into those same spaces started to feel different. Before every service, there was always that moment: sharing pronouns and not knowing what would come back. Would the esthetician get it? Would they fumble through it? Would Leaf spend the entire appointment feeling like a learning opportunity instead of a client who just wanted to relax? “I suddenly felt like I no longer belonged in the same way”, Leaf explained. The emotion alone was exhausting. Spaces that once felt like a treat started to feel like work.

But instead of walking away from beauty altogether, Leaf decided to walk toward it. On their own terms. “People need representation, even when they go to get a bikini wax or a facial. And now I can be that person for folks who need it.” That is what brought them to EBC’s Renton campus. That is what gets them up every morning.

Leaf will be the first to laugh and say, “I feel like I’ve lived so many lives before coming to EBC!” A Musical Theater degree, ten years running arts programs for teens across Seattle, a front-desk role at a hair salon watching the industry up close, and right now, while studying esthetics, they are still working as a dialect coach and performing as a burlesque artist. They have always moved through the world this way: full speed and fully themselves.

The Evergreen Experience

Of everything Leaf has learned at EBC, eyelash extensions have stolen their heart. The work is small, precise, and intentional, and every set is a little different. “Something about working in such a finite, controlled area and exercising my creativity to make something tangibly beautiful really scratches my itch for results-driven services,” they say. The moment a client looks in the mirror and something shifts in their face? That confidence is everything.

Lashes by Leaf Fishbaugh

The community inside EBC has meant just as much as the technical training. Leaf came in expecting school. What they found felt more like a team. Someone nails a technique and the whole class celebrates. Someone struggles and the whole class shows up. “School is so much more enjoyable when you are excited to bring everybody’s strengths together rather than feeling like you are on your own,” Leaf says. When one of us wins, we all do. That is just how it works at EBC.

Ask Leaf what kind of esthetician they are and they will point you to the capybara. Those large, gentle animals who seem to get along with every species they meet. Birds on their heads, crocodiles beside them, totally unbothered. “They are naturally non-territorial, cooperative, and highly dependent on community, and that is very much how I move through the world and my work as an esthetician,” Leaf says. Clients can expect to feel like they are spending an hour with a best friend, someone they can be completely themselves around.

The Next Step

Makeup by Leaf Fishbaugh

Right out of school, Leaf is opening their own studio, and they are so ready for it. The vision is a space built for people who have not always felt like they belonged in traditional beauty environments, where no one has to hesitate before booking or wonder if they will be welcomed when they walk in. Leaf knows exactly who they are building this for. They are also in conversations with a hair salon up north looking to expand into esthetics, with hopes of helping build and pilot that program too. Two exciting paths forward, and Leaf is sprinting toward both.

Their advice to anyone thinking about enrolling? “GO FOR IT. Life is short, and if this is something you have been dreaming about doing, it is well worth the time, effort, and finances that go into making it happen.”

Leaf Fishbaugh is expected to graduate from EBC’s Renton campus in August 2026. Follow their work on Instagram at @gayagendaesthetics and on TikTok at @gayagendaesthetics. We cannot wait to see the space they create.

If you are interested in pursuing a career in the beauty industry, check out our Esthetics program or Schedule a Virtual Tour at one of our campuses: Bellingham, Mount Vernon, Everett, North Seattle, Renton, Olympia, and Yakima.