The famous Sesame Street now has its first black female puppeteer, Megan Piphus Peace joined the show as a full-time cast member in 2021.
Peace graduated in 2014 and got her Masters in 2015; working afterwards as a real estate finance. She preserved her passion, nonetheless, and continued to practice and search for opportunities where she could perform on weekends. “I just couldn’t give up the feeling of making audiences smile.”
Peace is the voice of 6-year-old Gabrielle on Sesame Street and the first Black woman puppeteer in the show’s more than 50-year history. She discovered by chance she was the first female puppeteer while working on her first in-person recording.
Piphus’s first appearance was in a CNN and “Sesame Street” town hall on racism. The hall aimed at helping children process George Floyd’s killing and understand the Black Lives Matter protests.
Meghan said she grew up watching Sesame Street and considered the puppets to be her friends. Speaking of her character, Gabriele, Peace said that Gabrielle is the confident girl that she aspired to be.
Sesame Street got its first black male puppeteer, Kevin Clash back in the 1980s. Clash was the sound of Elmo and other various characters.
