Get to know PENELOPE “PENNY” PROUD who is often mistaken for DIAMONTE “SAWEETIE” HARPER. People say she reminds them of PENNY PROUD from THE PROUD FAMILY.
the little things.
hometown: wizville, corona
birthday: august 12 / 25 (leo)
occupation: employee at the sugar rush arcade, aspiring singer/rapper & soon to be ceo of viperion records.
education: senior at corona college
extracurriculars/things she’s a part of: member of the roller derby team. on the soccer and basketball teams. the first girl to be on the varsity football team. part of gaming squad. prescott’s acting class
headcanons.
Penny first starts dancing when she’s seven years old. She signs up for a talent show at the Wizard Kelly community center. Another group of kids were thinking of doing a dance to Independent Woman by Destiny’s Child and she joins their group. They lose the talent show in the end but she had fun.
Shortly after this she begs her parents to sign her up for dance classes. At first Oscar is adamant that he’s not wasting money on dance lessons, even when her mom tries to reason with him. In the end Suga Mama ends up paying for the dance classes.
It’s no secret that Penny is extremely close to her beloved grandma. Often times when she couldn’t see eye to eye with her parents she’d go to Suga Mama’s house for some clarity. Suga Mama always found a way to meet Penny in the middle and provide her with the guidance and wisdom she needed to make the right choice. Suga Mama’s house was also the birth place of her love for music.
Uncle Bobby, who still lived with Suga Mama after his own music career failed, would never know what to do with his frustrated niece when she’d come by looking for a reprieve from her parents. All Bobby knew was music and the way it healed, and so he’d put on his old records and they’d dance around the house until there was nothing but smiles and good vibes.
Bobby insists on teaching Penny how to play at least one instrument. She initially has no interest in learning the guitar or piano. The music she likes is heavy with bass and 808s. But then she hears Fallin’ by Alicia Keys and she changes her tune. Penny dedicates every bit of free time she has to learning how to play. She never gets to be as good as Alicia Keys, but she can read sheet music and has an easier time composing because of it and that’s helped her exponentially in her studies.
The first song Penny ever performs by herself is One, Two Step by Ciara. She choreographs a dance to it with the help of some of her dance class friends, and she even copies Ciara’s outfit from the video. Her mother loves to show everyone the tape of the performance any chance she can. If you’re invited to the Proud house chances are you’ve seen that video and Penny hates it.
Avid Hip Hop Helicopter fanatic. It being the island’s version of TRL, Penny would rush home so she could catch the video countdowns and special performances. She rewatches her favorite videos and tries to mimic everything the artist does. One time her father caught her trying to do the ‘Check On It’ choreography. He took away her TV privileges for five months.
Growing up in the Proud household was never easy. Penny and her father have never been able to see eye to eye on literally anything, and Trudy could be just as hard to deal with as Oscar at times. Penny often felt trapped under her parents set ways, and there was never any chance of expressing those frustrations out of fear of her parents taking it as disrespect. What her parents didn’t seem to understand was the tighter the leash the more willing she was to pull on it. Penny knows she gave her parents their fair share of headaches with how often she snuck out of the house and disobeyed their wishes, but she just couldn’t help it. She was young and curious. Hell, she still is. She was always a good kid at her core though, and she tried her best. Her dad just never seemed to see it that way.
Their fighting turned to near radio silence over the years, especially now that she’s away from home. She understands his feelings ultimately, and misses him of course, but she’s not necessarily sure she wants to be the one to make amends. Or even how to go about it. Penny feels as if she’s always the one bending over backwards for her father and he never once tries to see things from her point of view. She’s a little tired of constantly being the bigger person in their relationship.
Penny and Oscar are cut from the same cloth. Theyre both hard headed, passionate, persistent and stubborn. It’s the main reason why they can’t see to eye to eye. She thinks he’s overbearing, annoying and unbearable, and no matter how much she loves him she can’t change the fact that in the end she can’t stand him most of the time (when she’s not getting her way.). Trudy has once implied that Penny and her father have a hard time with each other because they’re so similar and Penny did not take it well. So, never compare her to her dad. Ever.
Boy! Crazy! Mostly when she was a teenager. Oscar banned her from dating until she was his age, and Penny never listened to a single thing he ever had to say. You could always catch her chatting up the cutest boys at the mall or at school. She’s still a little stuck in the habit of having to keep her relationships a secret. It takes her a while to feel comfortable posting a significant other on social media out of fear her father will see.
Penny was originally on the high school cheerleading team, but she realized she much rather preferred football. Getting into football was literally just because one of the boys said girls are too weak for football, and if there’s one thing about Penny; she’s not going to be underestimated.
Not the best driver. In fact, one would argue she’s a terrible driver. She failed her drivers test three times. She’s easily distracted. If the radio is on she can’t focus, and Penny is almost always listening to music.
Her brief brush with fame was humbling. LPDZ’s (and more so her own as a solo star) failure made her re-analyze what she wanted out of the industry in the first place. She and Luka are currently working on starting their own label together, but in the meantime she’s focusing her efforts on perfecting her own sound. Penny would best describe her sound as undefinable. She doesn’t want to be classified as a rapper or an R&B singer. She just wants to make music. Women are often put in a box when it comes to the entertainment industry as a whole, and Penny doesn’t care much for the idea of playing by the rules. Because of this she is willing to try her hand at everything, experimenting with anything new at least once.
The rise to fame is moving slow without the backing Wizard Kelly Records anymore. She kind of hates it. In an effort to keep herself occupied and build a name for herself independently, she utilizes social media. She has a YouTube account where she posts covers of songs bi-weekly, as well as the new music she’s been working. She also has a YouTube series called The Icy Life, which is literally just her vlogging about her stupid ass life. The channel is doing extremely well, thanks both to her bright personality and her proximity to various celebrities from the island (The Muses). She also livestreams on Instagram a lot, sometimes she writes songs on live but mostly she just interacts with her fans. She’s content with her 600k followers but she personally won’t stop until she has millions of followers. She wants to be as big as Beyonce.
Penny, while focused on achieving her goals, is still the fun loving girl she’d always been. You can’t keep her from a party and she’s easily spotted on the dance floor having the time of her life, or hanging with friends.
Penny has always been understanding and passionate, and she likes to think that she will always stand up for/do the right thing in the end. She’s the queen of the pep talk and long winded speech about what’s right. She’s a leader and doesn’t even really realize it.
Penny’s biggest musical influences include: Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Lil Kim, Lauryn Hill, Beyonce, Rihanna, and Missy Elliott.
