Hailing from Cincinnati, Ohio, Piphus has always been driven by passion. While her parents — her mother, a speech pathologist, and her father, a pastor — were at work, she often spent her days with an elder of the church who introduced her to PBS and the world of puppetry. Piphus credits her early education to shows such as Sesame Street, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, The Shari Lewis Show, and Lamb Chop’s Play-Along, where she was captivated by the vibrant worlds beyond her screen. She immediately fell in love with the characters and the magic they held, sparking her lifelong love for storytelling and imagination.
When Megan was ten years old, a teacher at her church, Dorothy Smith, inspired her to learn puppetry. Hoping to make a greater impact with her Vacation Bible School lessons, she took a group of teens and preteens — including Megan — to the International Festival of Christian Puppetry and Ventriloquism to learn the craft and share it with their church.
“I went to this conference and saw many incredible performers, but I was specifically inspired by these women ventriloquists that would perform in the evenings of the conference,” Megan shares. “They would sing songs and tell stories with their puppets… I was very shy and not very confident in being able to share my creativity, and I immediately thought, ‘that's the way that I want to share my voice.’”
Eager to get started, Megan’s mother helped her rent DVDs and VHS tapes from the library to learn more about ventriloquism. They found a ventriloquist dummy from a local toy store, and a couple of weeks later, she was performing for her classmates. Though Piphus was only expected to show her puppet and share how she learned the art, the young performer wrote a full script on God's love and performed it in front of the entire elementary school.
“In that moment, I realized I could teach anything to a child,” Megan explains. “The kindergarteners all the way to the sixth graders learned about salvation in that script, and I was able to capture the attention of the whole room. From that moment, it was my passion to be able to teach kids and families through their imagination.”
For years, Piphus balanced school and performing. Earning a full-ride scholarship to Vanderbilt University, the trailblazer moved to Nashville at seventeen to study Economics, music, and Spanish — all while performing puppetry on the weekends. At age twenty, she reached the Vegas rounds on America’s Got Talent. Though passionate about entertainment, she pursued a master’s in finance and spent seven years in real estate finance, continuing to perform and teach children in her free time.
An article about Piphus caught the attention of a University of Cincinnati professor who invited her to help teach kids financial literacy through puppetry and song. Together, they created a video series covering topics like budgeting and supply and demand — allowing Piphus to merge her passions for finance and puppetry. Around the same time, she sent an audition tape to the Jim Henson Company, and in 2020 received a life-changing email from Sesame Street producers: the opportunity to join Sesame Street’s mentorship program. After three months of being in the mentorship program, she had the opportunity to audition for the role of Gabrielle. Not only did she get the role, but she also made history as the show’s first full-time Black female puppeteer.
“Being on Sesame Street and walking through the doors was like walking into my childhood,” Megan shared. “What's special about the street is that you can actually go in and touch and feel the set — it’s not animated. You can hug Elmo and Big Bird and tell them about your memories and have conversations… it's literally being able to get in a time machine and reconnect with my childhood self and being able to create that same experience for everyone who watches the show.“
Growing up surrounded by music, Piphus began singing, writing, and producing songs at a young age and released her album Cinderella Sweep in July of 2025. In addition to features from several acclaimed artists, Piphus teamed up with Saving Our Daughters, a nonprofit, to form a 53-member “Cinderella Choir” made up of young girls aiming to encourage and inspire through the power of song. The album addresses themes like self-esteem, bullying, identity, and dreaming big.
Piphus is adding the title of author to her resumè as her children’s book, Brave Like A Lion, is set to release in May of 2026. Inspired by her children, Piphus recalls the challenges that came along with her son’s speech delay when he was younger. She specifically noticed his confidence grow wildly after a visit to his classroom where she helped teach puppetry to the class, giving each student the opportunity to turn a paper bag into a puppet, give it a character and voice, then present it to their peers.
“My son confidently got up with his puppet and gave it a personality and name… after that moment of making something with his classmates and sharing his creativity, he actually became really interested in puppetry, and he would play with my puppets at home and have full conversations with them [it]… I could see his creativity blossom,” Megan shares.
Whether it’s recording music, writing a book, bringing characters to life, teaching children, or raising her own family, Piphus wears many hats and continues to shine not only in the Nashville community but nationwide. Keep up with the latest updates on her website or on her social media.
@meganpiphus
“I just admire the characters, the art, and the ability to imagine and place yourself
into a different world.”