My Stolen Childhood Inside the Twelve Tribes Yellow Deli Cult
Cults to Consciousness
Shelise Ann Sola, Jonathan C Rosales
4.8 • 570 Ratings
🗓️ 16 March 2026
⏱️ 88 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Born into the secretive and highly controlled world of the Twelve Tribes, Meleah never knew life outside the group. From her earliest memories, every part of her existence was regulated—what she wore, what she thought, how she spoke, and even how she played. Childhood was not a time for imagination or freedom. It was training. In this isolated communal society, children were raised to obey instantly and without question. Play was replaced with productivity. Even family bonds were fragile, as parents could be sent away at any moment, leaving children to be raised and disciplined by strangers within the community.
As Meleah grew older, she began to see the cracks in the system. She realized that the utopia she had been promised was built on fear, manipulation, and silence. At just 17, she made the terrifying decision to escape. But freedom came with its own challenges. Thrust suddenly into the modern world, she faced overwhelming culture shock, loneliness, and the painful process of rebuilding her identity from nothing.
Click here to watch on YouTube
Watch our interview with Meleah's sister, Rebecca
Find Meleah on social media!
The Sister Act Podcast website (submit questions or episode request): https://thesisteractpodcast.com/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/theunscripther/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheSisterAct25
Subscribe to our C2C "CLIPS" Channel!
Support C2C - Any donations are welcome and appreciated to support the making of this podcast.
Find our FULL (uncensored) merch store here!
Patreon https://www.patreon.com/cultstoconsciousness
Venmo @sheliseann
Find us on Social media!
Instagram @cultstoconsciousness
Host Instagram @sheliseann
Co Producer / Host @jonathan.rosales_
TikTok @cults.to.consciousness
Twitter @cultstocon
**Disclaimer: This podcast provides a platform for guests to share their personal experiences and opinions. The views expressed are solely those of the guest and do not necessarily reflect the views of the hosts or producers. Any allegations discussed are unverified and represent personal accounts only. All individuals mentioned are presumed innocent unless proven otherwise. The podcast assumes no legal responsibility for statements made by guests.**
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I was locked in a house for two years. |
| 0:03.0 | No interaction outside, no interaction inside. |
| 0:06.0 | I wasn't allowed to speak to my siblings at all. |
| 0:09.0 | I had no idea where they were. |
| 0:10.0 | We lived in like a cabin in the woods somewhere. |
| 0:12.0 | My mom is an absolute saint. |
| 0:14.0 | My dad can be very fun and funny, |
| 0:16.0 | and that's like kind of always the person that I knew, |
| 0:19.0 | and I ended up just hating them. I don't know |
| 0:23.0 | how else to describe it, but I even wrote about this. I was like my mom is awesome and I can, |
| 0:28.5 | they were the only two people I interacted with for two years and I was just going mentally bananas. |
| 0:34.8 | Mine is the only voice. What have I been doing? |
| 0:37.9 | Lay down my autonomy. |
| 0:40.4 | After that, it got very dark very quickly. |
| 0:49.2 | Hey, guys. |
| 0:50.1 | My name is Shalise Anzola, and this is Colts to Consciousness, or we discuss we discuss leaving high demand religions or organizations and finding healing and independence through awareness and true individual sovereignty if you're only listening on those podcast platforms and you would prefer to see our faces and support the channel in the best way possible go over to youtube where you can interact with the post which boost the algorithm sends algorithm, sends it to more people, help more people become aware of these groups and become more compassionate to our guests, our survivors who are bravely coming on and sharing their stories. |
| 1:18.9 | With that in mind, leaving those words of encouragement for them also means so much to our guests and to us. |
| 1:24.5 | And again, it's the best way to support the show, aside from obviously subscribing and liking. So today's guest, we were contacted by her and her sister. You |
| 1:32.9 | may have already heard her sister by the time this comes out, Rebecca. We were talking about the 12 |
| 1:37.7 | tribes today. So we've covered it a couple times before. And today's perspective is going to be what |
| 1:43.5 | it was like growing up as a child |
| 1:45.9 | in this incredibly isolated and very insular group with so many rules and restrictions, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Shelise Ann Sola, Jonathan C Rosales, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Shelise Ann Sola, Jonathan C Rosales and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.