Maya Avant is a fictional character from The Bold and the Beautiful, an American soap opera on the CBS network, portrayed by Karla Mosley.

Introduced as a series regular in 2013, ex-con Maya comes to town looking for her daughter who was put up for adoption by Dayzee Forrester (Kristolyn Lloyd).

After the child is revealed to have died, Maya falls for fashion executive Rick Forrester (Jacob Young) when she mistakes him for a waiter.

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).

The story made headlines in several mainstream media outlets including USA Today, People magazine and several LGBT publications.

Fresh out of prison, Maya comes to Los Angeles in early 2013 to confront Dayzee Leigh (Kristolyn Lloyd) demanding to know where her baby is.

While volunteering at Dayzee's coffee shop in exchange for staying in the apartment upstairs, Maya falls for Rick Forrester (Jacob Young) -- believing he is a waiter.

The two go window shopping on Rodeo Drive where they share their first kiss and when Maya is trying on gowns at the Forrester Creations boutique, she learns Rick's true identity and it scares her away.

Despite feeling uneasy at times, Maya continuously supports Rick as he spirals out of control manipulating and belittling Aly and even going so far as to shoot at Ridge and Caroline when he finds them kissing.

As the gossip spreads throughout the company, Rick's mother Brooke Logan (Katherine Kelly Lang) demands that Maya come clean with her son immediately.

Maya becomes the central figure of the company's California Freedom line and Rick proposes to her during the fashion show and she happily accepts.

[1] Mosley revealed that she was in Los Angeles and set to return to New York City for Thanksgiving in November 2012 when she was contacted by her agents about series producer and head writer Brad Bell and director Christy Dooley's interest in her.

While Maya is the third transgender character in daytime history preceded by supermodel Azure (Carlotta Chang) of The City and All My Children glam rocker Zoe Luper (Jeffrey Carlson) who falls in love with resident lesbian Bianca Montgomery (Eden Riegel) -- she is the first transgender character to be featured as a series regular on American Daytime television.

[3][4][5][6] The British soap Coronation Street established the very first regular transgender character in serialized drama in 1998 when the series introduced Hayley Cropper (Julie Hesmondhalgh).

Shows like Orange Is the New Black and Transparent regularly featured transgender characters but neither series on aired broadcast network television.

Meanwhile, Fox's Glee introduced a storyline in its final season that featured a character coming out as transgender and making the transition.

"[10] Maya becomes the first transgender bride in American daytime television history when she marries Rick Forrester (Jacob Young) in August 2015.

"[13] Mosley who initially questioned if Maya's transgender status should affect her portrayal revealed to the Daily News that "it has really given me more layers and has really deepened my understanding of who she is.

"[3] In December 2014, Soap Opera Digest exclusively reported that Reign Edwards had been cast in the role of Nicole Avant — Maya's younger sister.

"My first reaction was surprise" Mosley said to USA Today noting that "10 or 20 years ago, this is not a story we would be telling, and not in a way that's truthful and not sensational."

After the reveal when Maya reclaims her position as the face of Forrester Creations, the fictional company holds a fashion show featuring transgender models.

Though being so vulnerable scares her, "Ultimately Maya trusts Rick" and "she loves him enough to risk everything -- including letting down some of the walls she's built up to protect herself -- in order to be with him a healthy way.

While soap couples do not last forever, Bell said "Right now we're concentrating on developing a strong foundation for Rick and Maya" one than can "be respected and admired.

With this plot twist, Brad Bell has addressed his show's diversity issues and transformed Maya into oh-so-much more than The Black Erica Kane.

[30] The reveal that Maya is transgender made headlines everywhere, not only in the soap press, but in mainstream media as well as major publications for the LGBT community.

Kevin Mulcahy, Jr. of We Love Soaps said the series "has been consistently excellent over the past few years but the show topped itself today with the reveal of Maya Avant's (Karla Mosley) secret.

[8] While soaps have often featured "earth shattering" secrets that proved to be "lackluster at best", "This was not at all the case when it came to the bomb Nicole Avant had been sitting on since she strolled into Beverly Hills", Ashley Dionne of TVSource Magazine said.

"[35] Tim Surette of TV Guide admitted that the plot twist on soaps had become quite "common," and "the writers of The Bold and the Beautiful took the show's later shocker to a whole new level.

"[40] In 2020, Candace Young and Charlie Mason from Soaps She Knows put Maya on their list of Daytime's Most Important African-American Characters and criticised her departure, commenting that "On any given day, Karla Mosley's mercurial model could be a put-upon heroine or a plot-hatching vixen.