characterized by some critics as a "social climber" and a "gold digger", maya becomes a popular "love to hate" character for viewers due to her schemes and manipulations in her attempts to get what she wants. "daytime confidential" specifically referred to maya as the black version of the iconic "all my children" character, erica kane (susan lucci). in 2015, maya makes history when she is revealed to be transgender—becoming the first regular transgender character in the history of american daytime television. not only did the reveal send shock waves through the soap genre, the story also made headlines in several mainstream media outlets including "usa today", "people" magazine and several lgbt publications. maya's presence on the typically conservative soap also allows for the introduction of her family, including her sister nicole avant (reign edwards), her parents, vivienne avant (anna maria horsford) and julius avant (obba babatundé), her half sister sasha thompson (felisha cooper) and her cousin alexander avant (adain bradley) with the avants becoming the first and only central african american family in the show's nearly 30-year history.