Meet Tarish “Jeghetto “ Pipkins | Master of Puppetry

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tarish “Jeghetto “ Pipkins and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tarish “Jeghetto “, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I think that the only way to get ahead in your life/career is to take risks. That is what separates successful people from the masses. This is especially true as an entrepreneur. Every successful business owner that I know of has failed several times in business ventures until they found the right one that worked for them. In my opinion, playing it safe and staying in your comfort zone will get you nowhere in life. There should be a certain amount of fear in the choices you make, You embrace that fear of failing and move forward anyway. That makes your success more gratifying in my experience.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’ve been building puppets and performing puppetry for about 20 years. I’ve been a self taught visual artist since my childhood growing up influenced by Hip Hop culture in the 80’s. I’m an emcee and spoken word artist as well. All of these disciplines benefit my career as a puppeteer. My puppets are made of mostly recycled and found materials.

The thing that I’m most proud of is my family joining and supporting me in this venture. My wife manages our family business Jeghetto’s Entertainment LLC and my son Tarin puppeteers with me in my stage shows and short films.

I got to where I am today professionally by believing in myself enough to leave a career that I really loved. I taught at a private school for children with special needs for 6 years. But while I was at the school, I was perfecting my craft, performing on weekends and spent many sleepless nights building puppets until 3 or 4 in the morning. I also used puppets to teach with and brought puppets to work with me so students could play with them as a reward for reaching their personal goals.

When I made that leap and left my stable job to do puppetry full time, it was a little scary. I remember this one time I wasn’t bringing in that much income and I was short on rent during my first winter as a working artist. I had to ask a couple family members to borrow money to cover bills. That was hard for me, but I’m grateful that I have family to support me. Thankfully that was the first and last time that I was in that situation.

What are some of the lessons I’ve learned? A good friend of mine told me that there are 2 out of 3 things that you have to do as an artist. 1. Be likable. 2. Do good work. 3. Be dependable and show up on time. As long as you do 2 of those things you’ll do okay in your career, but if you do all 3, you’ll win in your career and in life. For example, if you’re likable and show up on time, but your work isn’t the best, you’ll get work. Or if you’re not likable, but you’re work is incredible and you show up on time, you’ll get work. You feel me? But if you’re missing 2 out of those 3 things, you’ll never make it in that field. So imagine if you check off all 3 things on the list?

When I leave this world, I want to leave a legacy to my family. I want to be known as the Puppet Master who dedicated his life to making a world a better place.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m not from Atlanta, so the only place I could recommend is the Center for Puppetry Arts. I’m looking forward to my time in Atlanta while I’m there for 2 weeks working on my installation and stage performance. I’m sure I’ll have a dope to-do list after I leave.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to shout out the Jim Henson Foundation and family for believing in my work and their ongoing support. They rewarded me with 2 grants that took my body of work and reputation to the next level. I can’t thank them enough.

Website: Jeghetto.com

Instagram: @jeghettos_puppets

Twitter: @jeghetto

Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/JEGHETTOSENTERTAINMENTLLC

Image Credits
Alex Boerner Robin Brown-Pipkins