- "Didn't you hear Solange? You should know better, sis."
- ―Maya, after Penny tries to touch her hair
Maya Leibowitz-Jenkins is a recurring character in the revival series The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder. She is a young activist who is "extremely mature for her age" and relentlessly marches to the beat of her own drum.[3]
She is voiced by Keke Palmer.
Appearance[]
Maya is a slender, brown-skinned African-American teenager, who stands at 5'4" in height, with beautiful brown eyes and dark brown lips. Her most distinctive feature is her natural brunette hair which is styled into all-different braids - dyed into an auburn and two of those tied into a double loop, thus resembling a ribbon. Maya intentionally goes for a mostly natural look while still trying to implement some styles to represent her woke persona.
In terms of clothing, she wears an off-white T-shirt under an olive-green bomber jacket, which includes trim that is colored in a darker shade. She also dons ripped, rolled-up, deep-purple jeans and dark-olive sneakers with the shoelaces and thin stripes colored in a slightly lighter shade, followed by off-white soles.
History[]
Unknown much about Maya's past. She and her younger brother KG were adopted by two married men (whom are gay with mixed-race and interreligious themes), Randall and Barry Leibowitz-Jenkins. In the first episode of the revival, she and her family moved to Emilyville, California following the abrupt departure of Sticky Webb.
Personality[]
Stemming from having two adoptive fathers, Maya is worldly and rather mature for her age. She sees herself as a 14-year-old activist who never hesitates to shut anyone down with her honesty and wisdom, sometimes coming off as insensitive in that process. However, as Penny noted, she can be self-righteous and uptight much like Penny herself in the original series. Maya is skeptical of social cliques and initially disassociates herself from Penny and her crew, acting rude to the former especially. According to her brother, Maya doesn't like the other humans in general. Due to her one-sided views of everyone else, she is quick to assume things about them without first trying to get to know them personally, which Penny calls her "delusional" for.
Relationships[]
Maya hasn't made that many friends yet nor met any people. She has only interacted with Penny Proud, Dijonay Jones, LaCienega Boulevardez, Michael Collins, and a few other characters. Despite her self-proclaimed wokeness, she has animosity towards Penny upon first meeting her but yet enjoys hanging out with LaCienega who is normally known to be shallow and superficial.
KG Leibowitz-Jenkins[]
They are seen with very few interactions, but it seems clear that they have a typical sibling relationship. They get annoyed with each other easily. Maya is bothered by KG's non-nonchalant ways and his tendency to not listen to her demands, and KG gets annoyed with her attitude. But it's clear that they love each other and know each other well as shown when KG tells Penny that she just doesn't do well with others. However, KG is open to helping her whenever she needs him.
Penny Proud[]
Maya initially has a strained relationship with Penny and claims to not like her based on the assumption that because of Penny's group are superficial, inconsequential, and self-absorbed. She assumes that Penny and her crew view themselves as "smarter" and "cuter" than everyone else. This is in spite of Penny's welcoming nature and her strong efforts of trying to befriend Maya. Penny has usually been able to relate to others easily and assumed Maya would be no different; so when Maya did accept her advances, Penny essentially tried to force herself on her, driving Maya further away. Maya began to admire Penny's persistence and decided to give Penny a chance to prove herself by inviting her to come with her to rescue Shuggie from the zoo.
After Penny realized Maya was leading her to break the law, she pointed out Maya's hypocrisy, calling her "pushy" "delusional" and "hard-headed" as Maya's "rescue mission" seemed to fit the bill of a "kidnapping" as Shuggie told them he was comfortable where he was. Though Maya didn't like Penny's attitude, she realized she was wrong and respected the fact that Penny at least stood up for what she believed in.
Penny later got corrupted by newfound social media fame after cancelling Make-Up Boy and Maya confronted her about the cruelty of her remorseless actions. She had her brother help her bring Penny back to reality by exposing her father as a hypocrite.
In "Father Figures", Penny was the only person not to treat Maya and KG different because of their fathers, and even tried to make them feel better. Later, when Maya and KG were being harassed by the Gross Sisters, Penny angrily came to their defence and got the Gross Sisters to back off. For this, Maya was very grateful to Penny for standing up for them, and invited her over to her house for gumbo. However, it's still obvious Maya can get slightly annoyed by Penny's hyperactivity.
In "Snackland", because Penny's voice changed, Maya temporarily took her spot in the singing group, though was notably the most sensitive about Penny's feelings, and seemed disgusted when LaCienega didn't care. However, right before their performance, Maya happily joined Penny's side and personally gave her a new "P" sticker. After their performance, Maya congratulated her on a job well done, and apologized for her past actions and asked for forgiveness, which Penny agreed to.
So essentially, the two have established a dynamic of holding each other accountable for their misdeeds.
LaCienega Boulevardez[]
Though Maya and LaCienega are polar opposites, they seem to have bonded over some common interests such as being fans of Make-Up Boy and their shared animosity towards Penny. LaCienega took a liking to Maya after Maya had undone Penny's massive social media cancellation spree which LaCienega fell victim to after attempting to correct Penny for her actions. They end up hanging out together one on one; and Maya ironically helps LaCienega to try and steal Penny's boyfriend. LaCienega was able to bring out laughter in Maya when cracking a "basketball" joke about Penny's head. However, LaCienega is a bit rude to her despite Maya being helpful to her much like she has been with Penny, as in "Father Figures", LaCienega did not stand by Maya, and the latter was visibly irritated by LaCienega's inability to read a situation.
By "Snackland", Maya does not seem to like LaCienega very much, giving her several dirty looks at the latter's mistreatment of Penny.
Dijonay Jones and Zoey Howzer[]
Maya is still getting to know Dijonay and Zoey. She warms up to them enough to go to mall with them to see Make-Up Boy in "Bad Influence(r)" and hangs out with them during school hours. She and her brother also join them to see a movie along with Penny, her boyfriend Kareem, LaCienega, and Michael.
Michael Collins[]
At the moment, they barely are interacting. But Maya preferred sitting next to him rather Penny. However, she did think of him, much like the rest of the group as superficial early on. However in "Father Figures" she was seen talking to Michael on her couch, showing no resentment against him. In that same episode, Maya is seen playing a game with Michael, and Michael is amused from the ridiculous poses she was doing with Dijonay.
For the most part, Barry is very doting towards Maya and her brother. Barry has admitted that she’s called him “Bear-Bear”, much to her embarrassment. Throughout the show, Barry constantly calls Maya “My-My”, and it’s shown that they have a close relationship.
In Juneteenth, Maya and Barry get into a fight due to Barry’s denial of his family’s past. During the climax of the episode, Barry tries to stop the riot police, but it doesn’t work. While they’re in jail, Barry apologizes to his family, stating that he’s eternally grateful for Maya and her friends helping him see through his defensiveness. At the end of the episode, Barry seems to be crying happily as Maya gives her speech.
Episode Appearances[]
The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder[]
Season 1[]
- New Kids on the Block
- Bad Influence(r)
- It All Started with an Orange Basketball
- Father Figures
- Snackland
- Get In
- When You Wish Upon a Roker
- Home School
- Raging Bully
Season 2[]
- Grandma's Hands
- Curved
- A Perfect Ten
- The End of Innocence
- The Soul Vibrations
- Us Again
- BeBe
- Juneteenth
Disney Channel Shorts[]
Theme Song Takeover[]
Trivia[]
- Maya was voiced by Keke Palmer (star of Nickelodeon's True Jackson, VP and the voice of Aisha in the Nickelodeon dub of Winx Club.)
- In "Get In", Maya reveals that she is a Virgo and she just turned 14. Her voice actress Keke Palmer is also a Virgo.
- She is mixed-race, having an adopted gay, interreligious family.
- She enjoys reading and actually carries a book with her. Once she was seen reading Race After Technology by Ruha Benjamin.
- She is skeptical of social cliques and initially disassociates herself from Penny and her crew, although she is seen to hang out with them in every episode since her introduction.
References[]
- ↑ Disney Plus announces Louder and Prouder Guest stars - Instagram
- ↑ "Just turned fourteen, I'm a virgo!" — Maya, "Get In"
- ↑ Keke Palmer joins the Disney+ Proud Family reboot as new activist character - Entertainment Weekly