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For the multi-talented Megan Piphus, every word, note, and sound is meticulously prepared to make music that serves kids for a lifetime. Representation is at the core of her work; in 2021, the multiple-time Emmy Award winner notably became the first Black female puppeteer to perform on Sesame Street. Her album releasing this month, Cinderella Sweep, was created to inspire young girls. For it, she partnered with Saving Our Daughters, a nonprofit with a mission to support adolescent girls of color in overcoming social barriers like bullying, data violence, and low self-esteem. We chatted with Piphus about how she found her love for puppetry, the new album, and more. - Destiny Mizell
FINDING HER PASSION: When I was 10 years old, I was introduced to puppetry as an art form. I grew up watching classic shows like Sesame Street and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, which both used puppetry, but I never realized that puppetry was a skill that I could learn. I attended a conference called the International Festival of Christian Puppetry & Ventriloquism with a group that a teacher at my church assembled. At the conference, I was mesmerized by women ventriloquists who sang and told stories with their puppets. I was immediately inspired to do the same. I grew up singing in the church and watching my dad, a brilliant musician and pastor, leading choirs and writing music. So, seeing the combination of puppetry and music drew me in deeply.
GIRLHOOD: I connected with Saving Our Daughters through their founder, Curt Benjamin. He asked me to be a mentor for the girls, and from there, my adoptive mentor school became Thurgood Marshall Academy in Harlem. I loved their mission of providing mentorship opportunities for young girls in arts and media by pairing them with celebrity experts in various fields. As a "godparent" for the girls, I organized a virtual tour of Sesame Street for the girls to see what a day in the life of a TV puppeteer is like. When I started working on my album Cinderella Sweep, I realized that the primary audience for the project would be young girls, and what better group to partner the album with than Saving Our Daughters.
ALBUM THEMES: The album has many anthems for our kids to love themselves, to be comfortable in their beautiful skin, to be hopeful, to be determined, and to just have fun! We have many wonderful collaborations on the album, including Gracie's Corner, Celina Smith, Jasmine Forsberg, Calah Lane, and my 6-year-old son Leonardo.
MAGICAL MUSINGS: The creative process started with topics — what would I like for our kids to know and feel? I knew that I wanted to write songs about perseverance, confidence, self-esteem, and dreaming big. From there, we wrote magical songs that surrounded those topics. Once we had drafts, we organized recordings with the girls from Saving Our Daughters in three cities: Atlanta, New York City, and Los Angeles. Recording with them was a beautiful experience. For many of the girls, the recordings were their first time in a recording studio. When the recordings were completed, the girls were inspired to dream their wildest dreams, dreaming of becoming attorneys, judges, chief financial officers, bakers, and performers.
THE REASON: Creating art that serves a purpose and solves a problem is what makes my work meaningful to me. I experience incredible fulfillment by creating art that makes kids and their families feel inspired and makes them dance!