NCEA History

The NCEA was founded by Susanne S. Warfield in January 2000. At the time, the American Academy of Dermatology’s (AAD) Allied Health Committee was looking to liaise with the skin care industry.

Ms. Warfield, a member of the AAD’s Allied Health Committee, was asked to form a coalition of the over 30 associations representing skin care professionals in the United States.

The inaugural meeting was held in June 25th 2000 and 22 associations was represented. The National Coalition of Esthetics & Related Associations was formed.

Download Proceedings of the Inaugural Organizational Members Meeting

Through growth and transformation the NCEA has maintained (+/-) 16 association members (many of the original 22 no longer exist or have merged) and has grown its corporate members to include manufacturers/distributors, schools, and post-graduate training facilities. Individual memberships were an added membership category in 2002 to further represent the growing need for representation of esthetic professionals to our state regulatory boards.

The association officially updated its name to better reflect its membership in 2003 to the National Coalition of Estheticians, Manufactures/Distributors & Associations. The coalition maintained the acronym of NCEA.

One of NCEA’s goals was to come to an industry agreement over use of terminology, esthetician job tasks, and the hours of training necessary to be successful in today’s skin care industry. The NCEA 600 and 1200 Hour Job Tasks were developed in late 2001 and have been the focus of developing further National Standards and Curriculums by the NCEA.

The NCEA Certified credential came about through the fundamental need to assist state regulatory boards in maintaining consumer safety, licensee mobility, international recognition and meeting the job tasks of the skin care professional to be successful in today’s skin care industry and the future.

The development of the Commission on Accredition (COA) in 2009 was to further aid NCEA's goal of standardizing continuing education on a national basis.