Cosmetology School: "It's Giving Cult"
Was I in a Cult?
Liz Iacuzzi
4.5 • 3.5K Ratings
🗓️ 19 December 2025
⏱️ 56 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week we head to Nashville, Tennessee — where a cosmetology school promising structure, opportunity, and "professionalism" turned out to be something else entirely.
Our guest, Sophia, thought she was paying over $20,000 to learn how to do hair. Instead, she walked into a system obsessed with obedience, image, and silence — where being late cost money, smiling was mandatory, and your body, time, and labor were constantly monitored. Add in "motivational" rituals, public humiliation, and unpaid work dressed up as "education," and suddenly this isn't just cosmetology school… it's giving cult.
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FOLLOW SOPHIA
Find Sophia on Instagram & TikTok → @styledby.sophiaelise
If you're in Nashville, go get your hair done and TIP WELL!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The views, information, or opinions expressed by the guest appearing in this episode solely |
| 0:04.4 | belong to the guest and do not represent or reflect the views or positions of the hosts, |
| 0:09.0 | the show, podcast one, this network, or any of their respective affiliates. |
| 0:17.0 | I feel like, you know, you think of a cult and you think it's like some big, scary organization. |
| 0:22.6 | Like you get taken away on the private island and you get served Kool-Aid. |
| 0:26.6 | Like, no. |
| 0:27.6 | Girl, I was in one 30 minutes away from my house and I still got to come home at night and sleep in my bed. |
| 0:33.6 | Girl, there are so much more common than you think. |
| 0:35.6 | So much more common than you think. So much more common than you think. |
| 0:48.4 | Welcome back, everyone, to was I in a cult? |
| 0:50.1 | I'm Liz Iyakusi. |
| 0:51.8 | She certainly is. |
| 0:54.8 | And I'm Tyler Meiss Mism and I certainly am. |
| 1:03.4 | And this is a show about people who have been in cults and cult-like environments and have seen the light and gotten the hell out. |
| 1:06.1 | I was wondering what our show is about. |
| 1:08.5 | Yes, the name, was I in a cult? |
| 1:09.5 | Interesting. |
| 1:31.2 | I'm glad you informed me of that. But also, we dive into all types of cults. I mean, cult you might not expect to be a cult like a martial arts cult. Or a cult of one, a one-on-one cult. Yeah, or a stupid thing like an acting cult. What a stupid thing that is. So dumb. Or like, I don't know, a dental office. That's actually Scientology in disguise. |
| 1:36.6 | Oh, that makes no sense, except for maybe also something like a pole dancing cult. What? |
| 1:47.0 | That's crazy or that crazy. A work cult. Yeah. And today, a school. A school of cosmetology in Nashville, Tennessee. A place where you'd expect things like, well, I don't know, scissors, shampoo, curlers. |
| 1:53.0 | Not chance, not humiliation rituals, and not cult light capitalism. |
| 1:59.0 | Just so you know, |
... |
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