- Megan Piphus Peace recently became the first Black woman puppeteer on 'Sesame Street.'
- She first learned puppetry at her local church when she was 10 years old.
- Piphus details her journey from "America's Got Talent" to "Sesame Street" and how it feels to make history.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Megan Piphus Peace, crew member and voice of Gabrielle on "Sesame Street." It has been edited for length and clarity.
I first learned ventriloquism when I was 10 years old.
A woman at my church started a puppetry team to teach older kids how to perform puppetry for the smaller kids' ministry. I volunteered to learn, and she took all of us to a puppetry conference in Illinois.
There were church puppetry teams there from all over the world, and we learned character development, technique, and how to use and make different props. This was when I was first introduced to ventriloquism.
A lot of the teachers at this conference were women, which really inspired me. I watched these female ventriloquists tell stories and sing songs using a character, and I really saw myself in them.
I wanted to make people laugh, feel and be inspired. So at the end of the conference, I went home and told my parents that I wanted to learn how to become a ventriloquist.
My mom was extremely supportive, and I think she saw it as an opportunity for me to open up and come out of my shell — I was very shy as a child. She found VHS tapes by famous ventriloquists like Paul Winchell, Liz VonSeggen, and Judy Buch from libraries all over the state of Ohio. I watched those tapes over and over to learn from the greats.
I knew I'd found my passion when I had my first performance as a ventriloquist
I got my first puppet and named him Charlie McCarthy, after Edgar Bergen's famous character. I practiced with Charlie and took him to school and told jokes to my classmates, which got the attention of my teachers. They asked me to perform for the whole school, and that's when I wrote my very first script.
That first performance was probably one of the most gratifying experiences of my life. I started performing at other schools and churches, from age 10 or 11, all the way through high school. I started getting paid to travel to perform at other churches when I was in high school. It became a real job for me at that point.
I made $50 to $100 per show. I would use the money to either buy more puppets, fabric for making my puppets' clothes, or for giving back to my church.
I've since become the first Black woman puppeteer on the United States version of "Sesame Street," where I'm a cast member and the voice of Gabrielle. I've traveled all over the world to perform and sing with my puppets, and even appeared on "America's Got Talent."
I never expected to hear from "Sesame Street," especially because I never applied
"Sesame Street" is the pinnacle of puppetry and children's entertainment. While I dreamed of working there, I never thought I would, especially during the time that Matt Vogel, "Big Bird" actor and a producer for the show, reached out to me.
At the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, I was around six weeks pregnant with my second child. In an email, Matt wrote that since production had slowed because of the pandemic, they had time to go through some old submissions — but I hadn't submitted myself.
In 2018, I found Leslie Carrara-Rudolph's Instagram — she performs the character Abby Cadabby on "Sesame Street." I just commented on one of her posts saying "Abby Cadabby has always been my favorite character. You do amazing work with her character."
Leslie actually responded to me and asked if it was okay to send my information to some people at "Sesame Street" (I had ventriloquy performances on my Instagram profile). I told her that would be amazing.
After two years, I wasn't even thinking about it anymore and was so shocked to hear back.
Joining the 'Sesame Street' mentorship program helped me learn their style of puppetry, but it was hard work
Matt Vogel asked if I would be willing to learn monitor and Muppet style puppetry, because they're different styles from ventriloquism. With ventriloquism, which I had built my performance career on, you see the ventriloquist — but with muppet style puppetry, you don't see the person who's performing.
I was very interested in learning the style, so I got on the phone with him and Marty Robinson (performer of Snuffleupagus, Telly Monster). They told me what it was like working at "Sesame Street" and asked if I would be willing to join their mentorship program.
In the mentorship program, you're trained by "Sesame Street" performers with the hopes of eventually being on camera and performing a character. I accepted immediately.
I had my first mentorship meeting five minutes after that call, so I was welcomed into the family right away. My first time voicing Gabrielle was in June 2020 when I educated children about racial justice for a CNN Town Hall.
Then in September of 2021, I had my very first in-person recording with Gabrielle. Up until that point, I had been learning and training over Zoom in Nashville, TN (which is where I live), which was difficult, but I made the best of the situation. The majority of the performers are in New York where "Sesame Street" records.
I was also pregnant at the time, and while it was hard work to push through the pregnancy fatigue to practice and learn, I had an incredible drive to learn and master monitor-style puppetry.
Working on 'Sesame Street' is just as fun as it looks
Before the actual shoot date, we read through the scripts, read our characters' lines, and then practice. On the day of shoot, we usually get into the studio around 8 a.m. We'll have an introductory meeting with the whole team and talk about how the day is going to run.
From there, all the performers go to what we call the "Muppet Lounge," where we can hang out and talk until it's our time to come on set. There's a really strong camaraderie among the Muppet puppeteers family.
The most beautiful part is walking into the studio and seeing the exact same set that I grew up watching as a child.
My favorite recording days are when it's someone's first day on set. I remember how magical my first day was. When new team members or guests come in, whether it's a new director, a new cameraman or a celebrity guest, you can always see the childlike wonder on their faces when they step on set.
We had President Biden's secret service come to the street recently, and they were so enchanted — these guards who you think are going to be so serious and intimidating were children again the moment they walked on set. They all wanted pictures with the different characters. Seeing the set has that effect on everyone, and I love to see that.
The bravest moment of my career is still when I appeared on "America's Got Talent"
I was a junior in college when I auditioned for "America's Got Talent." It just so happened that my recording date for the show was during my spring break. I went to New Orleans to audition, and I met so many performers from around the world.
On the day of recording, I arrived at 8 a.m., but wasn't called to perform until 11:30 that evening.
By the time I finally got on stage, the audience and the judges were tired. I had to block that out and focus — I was on the show during the time where the hosts were still using the big X's when they didn't like your act. After I performed, all four judges unanimously voted "Yes" and sent me to the Las Vegas round.
I didn't make it past Vegas, but Howard Stern, who was a judge at the time and like a father figure off-camera, gave me phenomenal advice. He told me, "I think you're a very talented ventriloquist and I don't want you to be disappointed by this moment. I want you to keep going."
And so I did. Through the exposure I got from "America's Got Talent," I performed all over the world in Bermuda, Guyana, Italy, Germany. I'm grateful for my experience on the show and it taught me to never give up.
I kept performing, even when I started my career in real estate
I continued to perform, but as I got older, married, and started a family, I started to think that my career in entertainment was over. I studied economics in undergrad and finance in grad school, and I joined a big private equity firm. I became a real estate developer in 2020. It was the safe choice, I thought: I wanted a career that seemed stable for my family.
I'd never met a Black female real estate developer when I started my career in the field — It's a very who-you-know business, that's dominated by white men. I didn't know a lot of the opportunities in finance even existed — so one of my goals when doing this work was to expose and educate more women and people of color to what we do and how it all works.
I had a few side gigs as a puppeteer and ventriloquist during this time — one of which was a project called SmartPath, a financial literacy platform for kids. I wrote songs for the characters and puppets, and we made music videos explaining finance concepts for grades 1-4.
We ended up winning an Emmy for musical composition on one of the segments I worked on.
I was, of course, really proud of my work, but it was very challenging — I was working full-time, and my oldest son was a toddler at the time. I would go to work in real estate for a full day, do the nighttime routine with my son, and then stay up after he went to bed to write the songs.
I cried a lot during this time because I felt like I couldn't juggle puppeteering and my real estate career for much longer — it was too much.
I was thinking that it was time to pick a path and focus on one thing. And that's when I got the email from Matt Vogel.
I left my job as a developer and financial analyst in August, to focus on this amazing opportunity with Sesame Street.
It makes me really happy to have made history this way
One of my favorite recordings I did for Gabrielle was the "Happy Juneteenth" song. That was incredibly special to me because I grew up with a neighborhood Juneteenth Jubilee celebration. I was able to sing that song with so much passion and meaning because it meant something specific to me.
I'm so grateful to have made history. I started ventriloquism and puppetry because I saw women who were puppeteers on stage, so I hope that young girls who learn my story will see the potential in themselves to be absolutely anything.
We bring a unique perspective from our cultural backgrounds — and when we have more diverse perspectives, it allows for more authentic stories and diversity of thought in our productions.
I've shed a lot of tears to get to where I am today, and I've come a long way from performing as a 10-year-old ventriloquist at my dad's church.
If you work in Hollywood and would like to share your story, email Eboni Boykin-Patterson at eboykinpatterson@businessinsider.com.
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