Is everything a cult? Or are we just finally noticing how belief actually works?
This conversation cracked something open for me around why we get pulled into certain ideas, identities, and systems and why leaving them can feel way harder than joining. I’m sitting down with Amanda Montell, whose work sits at the intersection of cult psychology, language, and cultural influence. We talk about how words shape belief, how cognitive biases sneak into everyday life, and why so many of us are obsessed with cult stories right now. Fair warning: after this episode, you may start seeing cultish dynamics everywhere.

Amanda is a linguist, New York Times bestselling author, and the voice behind Sounds Like a Cult and Magical Overthinkers. She has a rare gift for making complex psychological ideas feel accessible, funny, and deeply human without making anyone feel stupid for falling for them.

In this episode, we talk about::

• Why we’re so captivated by cult stories and what we’re actually looking for
• How language influences belief systems more than facts do
• What “thought-terminating clichés” sound like in real life
• Why smart people stay in systems they’ve outgrown
• How the sunk cost fallacy shows up in careers, relationships, and identity
• When something crosses from harmless into “watch your back”
• Why pop culture, wellness, and even work can feel culty without looking extreme

Timestamps:

• 0:00 Is everything a cult?
• 2:45 Why we’re obsessed with cult stories
• 6:30 How language pulls us in
• 10:00 What cult psychology actually looks like
• 16:00 When the word ‘cult’ helps or hurts
• 26:30 Thought-terminating clichés explained
• 37:45 Sunk cost fallacy and reinvention
• 41:00 Lightning round: harmless vs culty
• 45:00 Final takeaways

Key Takeaways:

• Cult psychology relies more on language than logic
• Cognitive biases reward familiarity over truth
• Leaving a belief system is often harder than joining one and that’s normal

Dig Deeper into Amanda Montell's world:

• Podcasts: Sounds Like a Cult, Magical Overthinkers
• Books: Wordslut, Cultish, The Age of Magical Overthinking 
• Follow Amanda on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amanda_montell

Get into Allison Hare's world and be a culture changer:

Book a free podcast clarity call: https://allisonhare.com/freecall

For info on joining the podcast coaching cohort, send an email: [email protected]

Be sure to rate, review, and follow this podcast on your player and also, connect with me IRL for more goodness and life-changing stuff.

• Schedule a FREE podcast clarity call with me - Your future audience is out there. Talk to them!
• Sign up for the free weekly email
• AllisonHare.com
• Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.
• DOWNLOAD the free podcast equipment guide- No guesswork, no google rabbit holes, start recording today
• Reb3l Dance Fitness - Try it at home! Free month with this link.
• Feedback and Contact:: [email protected]

Welcome back, Culture Changers! In this episode, I’m breaking down the runaway hit, "I've Had It" podcast, as part of a new series, Pod Phenom Playbook where I break down some of the top podcasts. If you’ve ever wondered why certain podcasts blow up and become cultural juggernauts seemingly overnight, this episode digs into the structure, psychology, and stickiness that make a show impossible to ignore.

I break down how best friends Jennifer Welch and Angie “Pumps” Sullivan catapulted "I've Had It" to the top 0.01% of global podcasts with their unfiltered, outrageously funny, and profoundly political take on modern grievances. This review explains how their bold, often shocking language, political savvy, and unique in-group vernacular have created a loyal, outspoken fanbase. You’ll learn about their meteoric rise, why their unapologetic progressive stance and visceral humor resonate in today’s media landscape, and how their approach can empower everyday listeners to find their own voice and point of view.

We discuss:

• Podcast Growth and Virality Factors
• Structure and Psychology of Popular Podcasts
• Outrage, Humor, and Political Commentary
• Point of View vs. Playing It Safe
• In-group Language and Stickiness
• Profanity, Nicknames, and Emotional Release
• Empowerment Through Honest Cultural Analysis

Timestamps:

• 00:00 Pod Phenom Playbook
• 06:45 Creating In-Group Language
• 08:37 Podcast Blending Politics and Community
• 11:40 Nicknames, Insults, and Impact
• 15:04 Media Overload and Frustration
• 19:34 Protesting and the 3.5% Rule
• 22:27 Understanding Divided Perspectives
• 24:34 The Power of Perspective
• 28:17 Breaking Status Quo Together

Rather watch on YouTube?

Links & Resources Mentioned:

• I’ve Had It Podcast
• IHIP News
• Kara Swisher podcast interview with Jennifer Welch
• Rolling Stone coverage
• New York Times feature on Jennifer Welch
• Culture Changers Podmail: culturechangerspodmail.com (submit your favorite pod shows for me to review)
• Want your podcast to be amazing? Book a free clarity call here: https://allisonhare.com/freecall

Be sure to rate, review, and follow this podcast on your player and also, connect with me IRL for more goodness and life-changing stuff.

• Schedule a FREE podcast clarity call with me - Your future audience is out there. Talk to them!
• Sign up for the free weekly email
• AllisonHare.com
• Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.
• DOWNLOAD the free podcast equipment guide- No guesswork, no google rabbit holes, start recording today
• Reb3l Dance Fitness - Try it at home! Free month with this link.
• Feedback and Contact:: [email protected]

Something big is shifting in how we get our news, and you can feel it in your body. You want to stay informed, but you also kind of want to throw your phone across the room. I asked a simple question on Facebook. Where do you get your news? What came back wasn’t a list of outlets. It was a list of survival strategies. And once I started digging into the data, it became very clear why so many smart, thoughtful people feel unsettled right now.

This episode is about where Americans get their news, why trust feels so shaky, and what’s actually changing beneath the surface as we head into 2026.

We are talking about:

• Why almost no one trusts a single news source anymore
• How social media officially replaced TV as the main way Americans get news
• Why independent journalists and news influencers are exploding
• What’s really happening with political polarization and platform trust
• The influence of AI and Deepfakes
• How to stay informed without burning yourself out or getting duped

Key Timestamps:

• 0:38 Are you being radicalized by the news?
• 1:35 What people actually said when asked where they get news
• 3:51 Social media overtakes TV as the main news source
• 7:41 Why mainstream news feels like WWE
• 12:01 Personality trust vs platform trust
• 14:36 Video platforms as the new TV
• 18:58 The rise of independent journalists
• 22:35 Why newsletters and community matter
• 25:04 Why local news still has an edge
• 27:26 Political affiliation and platform behavior
• 28:29 Flooding the zone and source confusion
• 33:25 Why conversations change culture

Links and Resources:

Schedule a free podcast clarity call with me

Allison's IG: https://instagram.com/allison__hare

Be sure to rate, review, and follow this podcast on your player and also, connect with me IRL for more goodness and life-changing stuff.

• Schedule a FREE podcast clarity call with me - Your future audience is out there. Talk to them!
• Sign up for the free weekly email
• AllisonHare.com
• Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.
• DOWNLOAD the free podcast equipment guide- No guesswork, no google rabbit holes, start recording today
• Reb3l Dance Fitness - Try it at home! Free month with this link.
• Feedback and Contact:: [email protected]

Something big is shifting.
You can feel it.

You want to stay informed and you also want to smash your phone.

I’m Allison Hare, a podcast strategist, and this is Culture Changers.

Here is where we talk with smarts and snark about all the stuff they say not to talk about: power, politics, religion, relationships through the lens of Pop culture. Of course we are talking cults and trad wives, too. 

If you’re wondering what to do with all of this, you might just be a culture changer.

Episodes released every Thursday on all platforms including YouTube.

Be sure to rate, review, and follow this podcast on your player and also, connect with me IRL for more goodness and life-changing stuff.

• Schedule a FREE podcast clarity call with me - Your future audience is out there. Talk to them!
• Sign up for the free weekly email
• AllisonHare.com
• Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.
• DOWNLOAD the free podcast equipment guide- No guesswork, no google rabbit holes, start recording today
• Reb3l Dance Fitness - Try it at home! Free month with this link.
• Feedback and Contact:: [email protected]

Something big is shifting, and you can feel it. I’ve spent the last year stripping things down, walking away from what looked good on paper, and telling the truth about what actually works, what doesn’t, and what I refuse to carry into 2026. This episode is me coming back home to Culture Changers and explaining why I left, what broke, and what finally clicked. No polish. No performance. Just clarity, courage, and a mic. If you’ve ever felt like you outgrew something you built, this one’s for you.

In this episode, I talk about:

• Why I’ve renamed this show five times (UGH!) and what that taught me
• How pop culture reflects our values, fears, and blind spots
• The moment I realized I was abandoning myself for “success” (Alignment over Approval)
• Why self-help culture stopped working for me
• What Culture Changers is becoming next and how you’re part of it

Rather watch on Youtube? https://youtu.be/ukcjGrrQtbo

Email the show (What pods do you love or love to hate? for Pod Phenom Playbook): [email protected]

• “I didn’t want to take Reinvention Room into the new year.” (01:04)
• “I was abandoning myself in service of commercial success.” (08:11)
• “I’m so deeply sick of self-help.” (26:06)
• “I’ve created such a wall around me.” (40:45)
• “How do we ground down on what is true when so much is uncertain?” (46:14)

• 0:00 Why Culture Changers exists
• 1:04 Why I ended Reinvention Room
• 3:20 The origin story of the show
• 8:05 The identity crisis moment
• 12:52 Why podcast conferences broke my confidence
• 20:06 Why reinvention stopped working
• 26:06 Why self-help culture lost me
• 31:15 Anxiety, control, and truth
• 38:10 The friendship realization
• 46:14 What this podcast is actually for
• 56:08 Pop culture as empathy
• 58:30 Pod Phenom Playbook explained

• If you can’t explain what you do clearly, something is misaligned
• Pop culture isn’t fluff. It’s a mirror
• When things feel heavy, honesty creates momentum

Be sure to rate, review, and follow this podcast on your player and also, connect with me IRL for more goodness and life-changing stuff.

• Schedule a FREE podcast clarity call with me - Your future audience is out there. Talk to them!
• Sign up for the free weekly email
• AllisonHare.com
• Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.
• DOWNLOAD the free podcast equipment guide- No guesswork, no google rabbit holes, start recording today
• Reb3l Dance Fitness - Try it at home! Free month with this link.
• Feedback and Contact:: [email protected]

Christianity has taken on a totally different meaning these days.. It is in the oversized cross necklaces, the trad-wife hair, the school board fights, the subtle “illegal aliens vs immigrants” language, and the way a MAGA hat or a Pride flag can tell people your entire belief system before you say a word. In this episode, I pull together the data, the history, and my own messy spiritual story to ask whether we’re slipping into a full-blown religious dystopia or just finally seeing what was there all along. We’ll talk about why Christian fundamentalism feels more mainstream than ever, why so many of us are “Cafeteria Christians” or spiritual but not religious, and why Gen Z is both walking away from church and walking right back in through a different door. You will not walk away from this one neutral.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• How Christian nationalism and partisan politics got so tangled up you can’t tell where one ends and the other starts
• Why Christianity has dropped to around 62% of Americans while the “nones” and spiritual-but-not-religious crowd keep rising
• The two emerging “Americas”: the remixers (Cafeteria Christians, astrology, crystals, human design) and the revivalists (fundamentalism, trad-wife aesthetics, purity culture)
• What Gen Z is actually doing with faith, and why some young adults are returning to church for structure while others are done with institutions for good
• How thought-terminating clichés like “God works in mysterious ways” and “everything happens for a reason” shut down real emotions and critical thinking
• Why belief in Satan, demons, and “spiritual warfare” is dropping overall, even as some conservative spaces turn it into a 24/7 fear channel
• The difference between inherited faith and adult reality, and how to spot when “community” is tipping into control or culty dynamics
• What it might look like to be human first and let belief and identity come second, without abandoning the possibility of God altogether

Timestamps:

• 00:00 Welcome to the Reinvention Room + why this one will piss people off or make you feel seen
• 02:28 Christian fundamentalism goes mainstream and hides inside politics
• 05:50 Growing up Protestant, “born-again” neighbors, and never feeling Christian enough
• 16:51 Mega-churches, mentors, and trying to find a faith home that isn’t culty
• 23:51 The long hair, oversized crosses, trad-wife aesthetic, and what they’re signaling
• 30:54 Deep research: declining Christianity, rising “nones,” and spiritual-but-not-religious trends
• 35:42 Crystals, tarot, human design and why the metaphysical often feels more helpful than church
• 40:08 Thought-terminating clichés and how they shut down real emotion and questions
• 51:13 Spiritual warfare, “the enemy,” and why demon talk feels like an abusive boyfriend
• 53:18 Christian nationalism, school boards, book bans, and politics dressed up as religion
• 58:23 Trump, media bubbles, and trying to stay human first in mixed-politics families
• 1:09:57 Burnout, belonging, and why everyone’s exhausted and spiritually unsettled
• 1:21:10 “Why are you letting assholes get in the way of your relationship with God?”
• 1:23:30 Are we already in a religious dystopia, and what happens next?

Links & Resources Mentioned:

Previous episode: Psychology of How Minds Change with David McRaney (on why people double down or actually shift)

Previous episode: Dr. Jay Van Bavel on social identity and tribal brains: EP108: Social identities

My weekly personal email: https://allisonhare.com/email

Work with me on your podcast: https://allisonhare.com/freecall

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allison__hare

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisonhare/

Website: https://allisonhare.com

Notable Quotables:

• [00:02:28] “Christian fundamentalism has gone from really kind of a fringe thing to totally mainstream. But now it’s wrapped in politics.”
• [00:03:35] “Meanwhile, most Americans are building their own version of faith from scraps, like a cafeteria Christian.”
• [00:33:18] “It really made me wonder, are people ditching belief, or are they ditching institutions?”
• [00:40:08] “These phrases don’t comfort people. They shut off critical thought and shut down your actual feelings.”
• [01:21:10] “Why are you letting assholes get in the way of your relationship with God?”

3 Top Takeaways:

Belonging often beats belief. People will choose social safety and their group over “getting the theology right,” especially when everything feels uncertain.

Two spiritual Americas are forming. Remix spirituality (Cafeteria Christians, crystals, human design) is growing at the same time as Christian nationalism and fundamentalism push for legal power. PRRI+3Pew Research Center+3Pew Research Center+3

You’re allowed to question. One of the healthiest spiritual moves you can make is asking, “Can I doubt here without being punished?” If the answer is no, that’s a data point.

Be sure to rate, review, and follow this podcast on your player and also, connect with me IRL for more goodness and life-changing stuff.

• Schedule a FREE podcast clarity call with me - Your future audience is out there. Talk to them!
• Sign up for the free weekly email
• AllisonHare.com
• Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.
• DOWNLOAD the free podcast equipment guide- No guesswork, no google rabbit holes, start recording today
• Reb3l Dance Fitness - Try it at home! Free month with this link.
• Feedback and Contact:: [email protected]

Sometimes life sneaks up on you and you have no choice but to face the dark corners we wish we could avoid. My guest today, Christophe van Durme is facing an impossibly difficult challenge of brain cancer as a young father. When i met Chris and saw the way he was handling his prognosis and building a legacy for his family, I knew I had to bring him to you.

Christophe talks through fear, multiple surgeries, paralysis, future plans that shifted overnight, and the quiet moments he holds onto anyway. It’s steady, honest, and strangely clarifying. There’s something about the way he speaks that pulls you closer to your own life instead of pushing you into dread.

Christophe shares what it means to live with brain cancer while raising a young daughter, holding onto hope, and planning for a future he might not fully get to see. He breaks down the reality of navigating treatment, rebuilding his body, losing parts of his independence, and still choosing connection. He also talks about the private podcast he’s recording for his child so she’ll always know his voice. This conversation is unfiltered, grounded, and full of the kind of truth most people only reach for when everything else falls away.

What You'll Learn:

• How a brain cancer survivor story can shift your perspective without sinking your hope
• What day-to-day life actually looks like when you’re living with brain cancer
• How people find meaning inside fear, not after it
• What legacy looks like when you strip out ego, performance, and pressure
• Why tiny human moments hold more weight than the big milestones
• How honesty creates connection even in the darkest circumstances

Links & Resources:

Christophe van Durme - LinkedIn

Profitivisime (nonprofit discussed)

Allison’s links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allison__hare

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisonhare/

Website: https://allisonhare.com

Free clarity call: https://go.allisonhare.com/45-min-call

Notable Quotables:

• “The only choice we get is how awake we want to be while it’s happening.” (01:20)
• “My goal is simple. Leave the planet in a better state than if I hadn’t been here.” (15:05)
• “Life is better than no life.” (35:10)
• “Joy exists inside pain.” (57:30)
• “I fear not being there next week.” (49:59)\

Timestamps:

• 00:00 — Why this story matters
• 02:30 — The moment everything changed
• 04:00 — Diagnosis at 17
• 06:35 — Tumor quadruples in size
• 09:50 — Awake brain surgery
• 13:10 — Preparing to die
• 20:30 — Emotional fallout and identity
• 24:45 — A friend’s philosophy that shifted everything
• 28:58 — MRI the day after his daughter’s birth
• 32:40 — Paralysis and rebuilding
• 35:37 — Why he still wanted kids
• 39:34 — The private podcast for his daughter
• 49:03 — Recovery, setbacks, and resilience
• 49:59 — Fear, honesty, and what he still hopes for
• 55:59 — Choosing a joyful funeral
• 57:32 — A reminder about being alive

Tips & Takeaways:

• Meaning shows up when you stop pretending you’re fine.
• The smallest moments end up being the ones that matter.

Be sure to rate, review, and follow this podcast on your player and also, connect with me IRL for more goodness and life-changing stuff.

• Schedule a FREE podcast clarity call with me - Your future audience is out there. Talk to them!
• Sign up for the free weekly email
• AllisonHare.com
• Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.
• DOWNLOAD the free podcast equipment guide- No guesswork, no google rabbit holes, start recording today
• Reb3l Dance Fitness - Try it at home! Free month with this link.
• Feedback and Contact:: [email protected]

You're working so hard putting out podcast episodes week after week. You know it's good. People seem to like it. But it's not really fueling your business Why? I’m breaking down exactly what it takes to turn podcast listeners into clients without selling your soul, burning out, or morphing into a funnel bro.

Today I’m sharing how small but surgical changes can transform your show into a client-generating machine by talking to real-life client - lawyer turned life coach, Caroline de Posada of the Bliss'n Up Podcast. Not hustle and burning yourself out creating 8000 pieces of content. This is how to get clarity, purpose, and a promise your audience can feel in their bones. In this episode, you’ll hear the real transformation that happens when your podcast becomes part of your business instead of floating next to it.

What You'll Learn:

• Why “turn podcast listeners into clients” starts with clarity over marketing gimmicks
• The single shift that transforms your episodes into action drivers
• What a clear podcast promise does for your audience and your bank account
• How small structural changes deepen trust and increase conversions
• What most podcasters overlook when trying to grow their business

Resources Mentioned:

Caroline’s Podcast: Bliss'n Up

Caroline de Posada's IG and LinkedIn

Caroline's Community Mastermind: The Hub

Allison's Clarity Call: https://go.allisonhare.com/45-min-call

Allison’s website: https://allisonhare.com

Notable Quotables from Caroline de Posada:

[00:23:49]: “I was a really good pastor on my podcast.”
[00:24:32]: “They trust me. They listen to my podcast every week.”
[00:27:10]: “I get to be me and sell and have a structure and have a framework.”
[00:28:59]: “This isn’t just about serving more people. It’s about serving my existing people better.”
[00:34:38]: “I know it’s working. I know it’s working.”
 

Timestamps:

0:00 — Why your podcast isn’t converting
2:25 — The shift that changed everything
7:10 — The missing link between podcast and business
14:50 — Why coaches need coaches
19:07 — The power of a clear podcast promise
26:12 — Selling without feeling salesy
29:15 — How episodes turn into clients
34:20 — Listener transformation story

3 Tips/Takeaways:

A podcast without a clear promise will inspire people, not move them.

Listeners convert when your episodes solve a problem they feel.

One structural change (like your hook or mid-roll) can shift everything.

Be sure to rate, review, and follow this podcast on your player and also, connect with me IRL for more goodness and life-changing stuff.

• Schedule a FREE podcast clarity call with me - Your future audience is out there. Talk to them!
• Sign up for the free weekly email
• AllisonHare.com
• Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.
• DOWNLOAD the free podcast equipment guide- No guesswork, no google rabbit holes, start recording today
• Reb3l Dance Fitness - Try it at home! Free month with this link.
• Feedback and Contact:: [email protected]

NXIVM is back in the headlines after Allison Mack’s new podcast — but for survivors like Sarah Edmondson, the story never ended.
She was one of the faces of The Vow on HBO — the woman who blew the whistle on NXIVM’s “self-help” empire that turned into a full-blown notorious cult.
This episode is about what happened after the escape: healing from coercive control, rebuilding trust, and learning to believe your own voice again.

Sarah opens up about the psychological hangover of leaving NXIVM — how fear, shame, and identity unravel once the system is gone.
We unpack what freedom looks like after indoctrination, how cultish behavior shows up in everyday systems, and the slow process of learning safety again.
It’s a conversation about resilience, humor, and the long road back to self-trust.

If you haven't heard Part 1 yet, here you go! https://podcast.allisonhare.com/post/274

What You Will Learn:

• How Sarah Edmondson escaped the NXIVM cult and what freedom really looked like
• The psychology of coercive control and how to spot it early
• Why rebuilding trust is the hardest part after leaving a cult
• How cult dynamics show up in modern coaching and wellness spaces
• How to protect your agency without losing your sense of belonging

Podcast: A Little Bit Culty hosted by Sarah Edmondson & Nippy Ames

Pre-Order new book: A Little Bit Culty

The Vow (HBO docuseries)

Scarred by Sarah Edmondson (book)

Sarah Edmondson’s website – sarahedmondson.com

“I see a woman who’s trying to right a wrong.” (02:20)

“When you’re in a cult, you don’t think you’re in a cult.” (13:34)

“Black-and-white thinking is culty thinking.” (11:58)

“Freedom isn’t a moment. It’s a practice.” (Paraphrased version you had before — confirmed not verbatim, remove it.)
Instead, use: “Leaving NXIVM was the easy part. Healing after was the work.” (09:33)

“If you’re in a group and your gut tells you something’s off — and the leader says you’re in resistance — leave.” (27:49)

“You can go on a seeking journey and want to better yourself, but you’re already whole.” (28:42)

• 0:00 Intro – NXIVM returns to headlines
• 3:50 What it took to finally walk away
• 10:42 The aftershock of coercive control
• 17:05 Rebuilding trust and identity
• 24:55 Modern cult behavior in everyday life
• 32:20 Freedom, humor, and healing

• Freedom after control starts with reclaiming your intuition.
• Coercive systems don’t end with cult leaders — they live in every space that punishes dissent.
• Recovery isn’t linear — it’s relearning trust one choice at a time.

Be sure to rate, review, and follow this podcast on your player and also, connect with me IRL for more goodness and life-changing stuff.

• Schedule a FREE podcast clarity call with me - Your future audience is out there. Talk to them!
• Sign up for the free weekly email
• AllisonHare.com
• Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.
• DOWNLOAD the free podcast equipment guide- No guesswork, no google rabbit holes, start recording today
• Reb3l Dance Fitness - Try it at home! Free month with this link.
• Feedback and Contact:: [email protected]

If you think you’d never fall for a cult, think again.
The NXIVM cult didn’t lure the weak — it attracted smart, curious, ambitious people looking for growth and belonging. People just like us.
And right in the middle of it was Sarah Edmondson, a high-ranking member who helped blow it wide open in The New York Times and HBO’s The Vow.
In this conversation, we unpack how something that looked like empowerment turned into manipulation — and how the need to belong can become a weapon.

Sarah shares what actually happened inside NXIVM, how coercive control disguised itself as “self-improvement,” and the exact moment she realized she was part of something dark.
We talk about the psychology that keeps smart people compliant, the power structures that mirrored everyday life, and what breaking free really cost her.
It’s part cult exposé, part human study — and all about reclaiming your voice when someone else has tried to own it.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

How the NXIVM cult disguised coercive control as personal growth

The psychology of belonging and why smart people get trapped

The moment Sarah Edmondson decided to blow it all open

How language and hierarchy keep people obedient without force

What the NXIVM story teaches us about modern cults and power

Podcast: A Little Bit Culty hosted by Sarah Edmondson & Nippy Ames

Pre-Order new book: A Little Bit Culty

The Vow (HBO docuseries)

Scarred by Sarah Edmondson (book)

Sarah Edmondson’s website – sarahedmondson.com

“Cults don’t prey on weakness — they prey on hope.” 09:2409:2409:24

“I didn’t wake up and think, ‘Oh God, I’m in a cult.’ It was a slow drip of trust and fear.” 15:0215:0215:02

“The brand became my evidence. It was the proof we weren’t crazy.” 27:1827:1827:18

“I had to reclaim my story before someone else told it for me.” 34:4534:4534:45

“Once you understand coercive control, you start seeing it everywhere.” 42:1142:1142:11

0:00 Intro – How NXIVM hooked smart people
5:40 Sarah joins NXIVM and finds community
12:55 The early red flags everyone missed
22:18 The branding and Sarah’s breaking point
30:04 The New York Times story that blew it open
42:00 The psychology of control and obedience
52:33 Outro – Reclaiming power after indoctrination

Belonging is a human need — and that’s what makes it so exploitable.

Coercive control often sounds like self-improvement until you question it.

Recovery starts with reclaiming your own definition of truth and power.

Be sure to rate, review, and follow this podcast on your player and also, connect with me IRL for more goodness and life-changing stuff.

• Schedule a FREE podcast clarity call with me - Your future audience is out there. Talk to them!
• Sign up for the free weekly email
• AllisonHare.com
• Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.
• DOWNLOAD the free podcast equipment guide- No guesswork, no google rabbit holes, start recording today
• Reb3l Dance Fitness - Try it at home! Free month with this link.
• Feedback and Contact:: [email protected]