BOSTON — State Sen. Liz Miranda moved $200,000 in taxpayer money last week to an entity whose owner has maxed out her campaign contributions to Miranda in each of the past two years. That's 100 dollars in public money for every dollar the donor gave privately.

Amendment 487 to the Senate's $575 million economic development bill, S.3178, directs the earmark to an entity called Bold Skin Babe Cosmetology Institute, Inc. Miranda, a Roxbury Democrat, co-signed the amendment with East Boston Sen. Lydia Edwards, who filed it. The money, tagged as line item 7002-8087, is for "scholarships for low income students" in the beauty and wellness industry.

Sen. Liz Miranda. Official portrait via Massachusetts General Court.

The recipient

Although the amendment earmarks the funds for "scholarships for low income students" in the beauty and wellness industry, the underlying business does not appear to operate as a school. Bold Skin Babe LLC operates as a Downtown Boston day spa at 8 City Hall Avenue, with a second location in Walpole. It offers facials, waxing, chemical peels, and eyelash extensions. Its own website describes no cosmetology school, no scholarship program, and no education initiative. The team members it lists were themselves trained at other schools.

The owner, Akou Diabakhate, a Senegal-born aesthetician who opened her first Boston salon in 2020, has personally cut $2,000 in checks to Miranda's campaign on state records: two $1,000 checks, one on January 24, 2024 and one on April 3, 2025. Both are the maximum a single donor can give a Massachusetts state senator in a calendar year. Diabakhate has also served on the host committee of Miranda's annual "Black Boston for Liz Miranda" fundraiser in both February 2024 and March 2026, according to the campaign's own ActBlue and event pages.

The three contributions on record from Akou Diabakhate at the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance. Both $1,000 checks, the state maximum, went to Sen. Liz Miranda's committee. Source: OCPF. Address blacked out for privacy.

"This is exactly how the legislature works — reward their political friends," Paul Craney of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance told MDN when reached for comment. "They complain they don't have the money for local aid, but here they give taxpayer money to a day spa."

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The trademark and the check

The "Cosmetology Institute" trademark was filed at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on May 1, 2025, serial 99165496, 28 days after Diabakhate's second max-out check to Miranda. The timing, of course, is a coincidence. As of publication, the "Institute" has no dedicated website separate from the spa, no course catalog, no publicly announced students, and no accreditation on record.

The trademark itself is for skincare products and salon services: facials, waxing, dermaplaning, hair removal, microdermabrasion. It says nothing about cosmetology instruction, scholarships, or education. The "Institute," in short, is not an institute. Its owner of record is Bold Skin Babe Cosmetology Institute Inc, a Massachusetts nonprofit. Its Secretary of the Commonwealth filing lists the same South End address Diabakhate uses on her OCPF donation records.

On June 5, 2026, the applicant filed a Statement of Use with the USPTO, a sworn declaration to the federal government that the mark is now in commercial use. Amendment 487 was filed seven weeks later. The USPTO had refused the application twice before that; it only cleared on reconsideration.

"It's hard to see how these tax dollars are going to an educational program," Craney said. "If tax dollars should be spent on educational programming, it should go to our community colleges and state schools — not to some random campaign donor of a state senator."

Craney's group wants Gov. Healey to veto the earmark and the State Ethics Commission to weigh in. "Clearly the earmark process is abused and broken," he said. "Earmarks should be prohibited and money should be sent in the form of local aid."

The co-filer

Sen. Lydia Edwards. Official portrait via Massachusetts General Court.

Edwards, who filed the amendment as its lead sponsor, was billed as a "special guest and honorary host" at Miranda's Roxbury fundraiser in February 2024, the same event Diabakhate helped host. She has no Diabakhate contributions on campaign finance record. Neither senator represents the neighborhood where the earmarked business actually operates. Downtown Boston, where the spa's flagship location sits directly behind City Hall, is in another senator's district entirely.

The pattern

Amendment 487 is one of roughly 200 earmarks the Senate padded onto the economic development bill, according to reporting last week by the Daily Hampshire Gazette, which noted that senators had padded the $325 million base package into a $575 million spending bill. "It shows their priorities," Craney told MDN. "When free license plates for veterans are ignored but earmarks like this are included, it shows what they care about the most."

The amendment passed last week in a bundle vote. The Senate groups a batch of amendments together and takes them all with one yes. The bill still needs a final Senate vote and House sign-off before it hits Gov. Maura Healey's desk. She can veto individual line items if she wants.

Sen. Miranda and Sen. Edwards did not respond to requests for comment before publication.

Boston Democrat lawmaker slips $200K to a day spa whose owner maxed out to her campaign twice and also hosts the senator's fundraiser too

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