Megan Piphus (Gabrielle)
Megan Piphus Peace started puppetry and ventriloquism at the age of 10 years old and taught herself the art form by watching VHS tapes.
Megan Piphus Peace started puppetry and ventriloquism at the age of 10 years old and taught herself the art form by watching VHS tapes. She spent her teenage years traveling the nation singing and performing ventriloquism at schools and churches.
In 2010, she graduated valedictorian of her class at Princeton High School and became known as the “Valedictorian Ventriloquist.” She became the “Vanderbilt Ventriloquist” when she started college at Vanderbilt University, where she studied Economics, Music, and Spanish and graduated with honors. While in college, she appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno as a ventriloquist and in June of 2013, she received “yes-es” from all four judges on America’s Got Talent. After graduation, Piphus Peace continued her education and received a Master of Science in Finance from Vanderbilt University. After graduate school, she worked in real estate finance and development, underwriting and closing over $2.4 billion worth of commercial real estate.
While working in real estate, she performed on television shows Tu Si Que Vales (Italy), Die Puppenstars (Germany), and Showtime at the Apollo with Steve Harvey, where she received a standing ovation from the Apollo Theater audience. In 2019, in collaboration with the University of Cincinnati, she performed and wrote songs for a TV musical series teaching young children basic financial literacy. Piphus Peace won two Ohio Valley Emmy awards for best composition and best children’s short for the series. Since 2020, Piphus Peace has played the role of Gabrielle on Sesame Street. After training for a year to learn Muppet-style puppetry with the cast of Sesame Street, Piphus Peace became the first black female puppeteer to perform on Sesame Street in September of 2021.
