We're excited to have Daria Berenato for this month's cover. She wrestles in the WWE under the name of Sonya Deville. This athlete started as an MMA fighter and transitioned into becoming a WWE Superstar who uses her platform as an activist for the LGBTQ community, supporting those that are looking to break barriers and of course continuing to expand her empire in fashion, acting and more. We also talked about her upcoming fight with former tag team partner, Mandy Rose on WWE SmackDown on May 8th!
ATHLEISURE MAG: Great to catchup with you and an honor to have you as our cover as we've enjoyed having Nattie, Carmella/Leah Van Dale, Naomi/Trinity Fatu, as well - when was the moment that you realized that you wanted to be an athlete?
DARIA BERENATO: Oh my God, an athlete? From the first! I used to play basketball at 4 or 5 years old in the driveway. I spent my entire life playing sports from basketball to lacrosse, soccer, track and field. Then on to MMA – Mixed Martial Arts to professional wrestling. So, I don’t even know what my life would look like without sports!
AM: I remember you on WWE Tough Enough but you actually started as an MMA fighter! What was it about that sport that drew you to it and what was your transition to wrestling and joining the WWE?
DB: Yeah so when I was 15 or 16 years old, I was in high school and I played school sports my entire life. I just wanted a change of space and I wanted something different. I always had dreams of graduating from high school, moving far away and being on TV and acting as that was always a passion of mine. I wanted to explore something else also. I didn’t know if it was going to be playing a musical instrument or a marital art.
This was a discussion that I had with my mom one day. I had been watching a lot of MMA videos and had been watching Gina Carano, a big female fighter back in the early 2000’s/2010 probably when I was watching her. I thought it would be so cool to see a chick in a cage and get into a fight and then you see her interviews in a dress. It was so cool to see someone so badass and then to be able to see her feminine side. I liked the idea of someone being beautiful and then being tough at the same time. It was really cool and I became obsessed with the MMA. I started watching every UFC and every Pay-Per-View fight night and eventually I was like, “I want to fight MMA,” and my mom was like, “I don’t even know where you would do that around here.” There weren’t any UFC gyms around here to do that. I went to a local boxing gym that was 45 minutes from my house and I started boxing judo and Jiu-Jitsu and I just loved how pure the sport was. I loved how it was a one woman sport, but that you had a whole team of coaches and training partners that you needed to work with together to get the win and stuff. It was just a really cool community and I loved it. So I moved to Florida to train with American Top Team which is one of the best teams in the world when I was 17. Literally, the day of my high school graduation, I drove down to Florida.
AM: Wow!
DB: Yes. I’m really impulsive like that. When I want something, I will do anything to get it and my heart and my mind is 120% in what I do. So yes, MMA is what I did. I fought and trained while also pursuing acting at the same time. I did that for the next 4 or 5 years and finally, I was hosting AfterBuzz TV podcast in LA where I was living at the time. Maria Menounos, is also part of the WWE family and used to be on E! News.
AM: She’s actually in this month’s issue as well! Completely random that this happened!
DB: No way! Aww that is like so perfect! So her and her husband owned Afterbuzz TV and they became mentors to me. They just took me under their wing and told me that they loved my attitude and they loved my spirit. They thought that I could do something special. So the WWE asked Maria to be on Tough Enough as a contestant and she was like, “hell no. I’m too old for this. But I have the perfect girl and she’s a fighter.” They called me and they thought I was going to say no because they thought that I was so MMA that I wouldn’t want to depart from it.
But they called me and I said yes right away because I saw the opportunity. I didn’t necessarily think that that meant leaving MMA at that moment, I just thought that it was a competition and reality show that sounded like a good opportunity. I just said, let’s do it. That led me to WWE and I ended up getting it. I mean, I was working my butt off to be ready for the tryout and to do the best that I could. I kind of felt out of place at tryouts because there were a lot of bikini world champions like Mandy and fitness models and I was just this little rough around the edges Jersey girl who fought MMA. I definitely stood out in that sense.
A couple of months later, I was hired and the rest was kind of history. I just fell in love with the world of WWE. It was everything that I had always been looking for. It was the performing and competition aspect all rolled into one for my career. Honestly, it was so meant to be and it’s just exactly where I should be.
AM: In terms of Sonya Deville, can you tell us about this persona and what are the similarities and differences between you and her?
DB: When I was first developing Sonya’s character, she was very simplistic at first. She was just a badass that was an MMA fighter who was coming into this world. All she cared about was fighting and winning. She’s a very straight to the point kind of character. Over time, being with Absolution (trio that comprised Paige, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville) on RAW and being on Fire and Desire (tag team of Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville) on SmackDown with Mandy and working with Paige in the past. It all kind of added to the persona of Sonya Deville. Because life experiences make us who we are as people.
So that’s kind of the case with Sonya. She was definitely third wheeling it a little with Absolution and with Fire and Desire, took a backseat to Mandy Rose because it was about Mandy’s magazine covers ironically. It was Sonya always taking the back seat to everything that Mandy was doing because that was just the dynamic of the team. So, Sonya had enough and a lot of what you’re seeing now on SmackDown is a compilation of everything that Sonya has been through emotionally. Everyone is starting to realize that Sonya is a bad B.
AM: Yeah she is!
DB: She doesn’t mess around and she has a little bit of an anger issue I think that we are starting to see and a little bit of an anger problem. But she’s calculated and much more calculated than what I think that we ever thought Sonya was. She’s not as impulsive as she once was. She’s more calculated and every move and everything that she does is made with intention and purpose.
AM: You guys have a fight this Fri on SmackDown!
DB: Yes we do!
AM: The internet is all over the place talking about this. So many of our readers are asking what you can tell us about this and any goodies you can tell as we will drop this issue a few hours before your fight!
DB: Oh wow! I think that you’re going to see a side of Sonya Deville that you have never seen before. Nobody has ever seen this before! She’s been waiting to get her hands on Mandy Rose for years! You have to understand that this isn’t something that just developed over night. The fans are just seeing it happen overnight because Sonya has been keeping it inside just planning and bottling it up. They have to understand that this is a plan that has been coming to fruition that has been in the works for 4 years. 4 years that Sonya has been getting stepped on and has been keeping a mental piggy bank of things that she can use against Mandy Rose. You’re going to see all of that come to fruition on Friday night!
AM: Oh my gosh. Well obviously we can’t wait to see all of this, how it develops and what happens afterwards.
So right now, when you look at the word normal, it’s an interesting word to say, but when you look at an average week as a WWE Superstar, what is it like with you training, getting prepared for matches and you guys are actively still participating in your sport where others are not able to do this. How has that been for you?
DB: We’ve all just kind of developed our own systems at home. Because obviously no gyms are open so I have been training in my home gym that I have built over the past few months. It’s great and I’m blessed that I have it as it is a space that allows me to stay in shape and ready at all times for the ring.
When we show up to film, it’s a completely closed set and we’re doing everything that we can – no crowd nothing! I think it’s pretty remarkable to see that we are able to go forward in a way that is still keeping everyone safe and healthy, but also being able to put a product on television right now so that people can hopefully be distracted for a few hours of their week and not have to think about everything else that is going on out there in the world right now.
AM: We totally agree with you. When your shows were coming out, we wondered how you would be able to do what you guys do without an audience. But when you’re watching it, you’re still seeing the drama as if there were a million people in that room. We commend you for that. The amount of travel that you guys do, the hours you spend going from one place to another while being fresh faced and ready to give it all for your fans is just something that you guys do as a team that is so great.
DB: Thank you. I mean being part of the WWE, it’s a very special thing and very unique. Because of the scheduling, the travel, the amount of shows that we put on a year that people don’t realize. So in a time like this, we have to reinvent the wheel a little bit and recreate. It’s fun for me as an artist and as a performer. It’s been super fun for me to have to dig a little deeper and to see what we can do to still put on an incredible show without the fans. Obviously, the fans are a huge part of what we do.
AM: In terms of training, what are your go-to workouts that you focus on to stay fit and what are workouts that we can do at home?
DB: I switch it up almost every day. Because it obviously gets monotonous to do the same thing every day. I’ll wake up some mornings and do a mile run or an 8-10 mile bike ride on the days that I don’t feel like lifting weights. Some days I don’t feel like lifting weights and my body is telling me to take it easy on the weights. So I’ll just do some cardio on some days or do some laps to the pool. Some days I will do a full on lift mode for weight training. Usually I will do a high intensity workout or a circuit workout one day a week. Then the other 3 or 4 days, I will do an actual weight lifting workout which will have a back and thigh day, shoulders and tri day or a lower body day. That’s kind of how I break up my week.
I’m always switching it up and I always say that if you have a kettlebell or a dumbbell, there is so much that you can do. The options are endless and they’re still available if you go on Amazon and so many other websites that are still selling them. Resistance bands are so amazing. I have a couple of at home workouts that are on my YouTube channel – Daria Berenato. You just have to reinvent the wheel a little bit right?
AM: What are your 3 power foods that you like to eat when you're training?
DB: Redcon1 Mint Chocolate Chip Protein is my favorite thing in this entire world! I’m obsessed. There’s these Kodiak Protein Pancakes mix that are the best in the entire world that I have had in my entire life. Eggs are then my day one go to! I probably have them 6 days a week if not 7. Eggs are so easy and I will do egg whites a lot too. It’s easy to get protein.
AM: One of the things that we love about you is the fact that we know that you’re athletic, you have a fitness focus and you also enjoy eating fun stuff like donuts and other things like that. That’s so important as coming from a fashion/fitness perspective, there are so many people that make others feel bad that even those who do take care of their bodies – that there is a stigma if you engage in that. You’re able to hold both of those things and you normalize that. Why was that so important to you to include that and bring it into your brand for fans to also see that.
DB: I truly believe that life is all about balance. I definitely have a type of personality where if I become focused on working out, I become obsessed with working out. If I’m dieting, I become obsessed with dieting. I’ve always kept a really healthy balance with my diet. Ever since stopping MMA, in MMA you’re dieting and your carb depleted and calorie depleted because you’re cutting weight for your fight. That was super stressful on the body and the mind. So when I switched over to WWE as a professional wrestler, where we don’t have weight classes and a weight to make, I kind of promised myself never to diet that hard again just because I didn’t like how I felt even mentally doing it. Now I have developed something that works for me. Everybody’s body is different, we have different genetics and we work out and train differently too. But I have gotten my body to a point where I know what I can and can’t have in a week and what I need to do to burn it off if I do want to have it. That’s how I think. Work hard, play hard is definitely a motto that I have that follows me into the kitchen too. I love donuts, I love pizza – I probably have pizza once a week, I’m not even going to lie.
AM: Nice.
DB: Yup, I have those pancakes, they’re protein – but they’re still pancakes. I have them probably once or twice a week. I like to enjoy my food for sure. Me and Mandy had our donut show DAMANDYZ DONUTS which is now Daria’s Donuts! We don’t do that show together and I have been producing my own content for that show. I think she has been doing her own show. I don’t pay attention to her in what she does. It’s been really fun to try different donut places all over the world and I cooked my own for the first time.
AM: How’d that go?
DB: It was an absolute mess in the kitchen! But they actually didn’t taste that bad!
AM: Well there you go!
DB: I baked them, I need to fry them next time.
This week, I’m dropping a poolside workout for my fans. So it’s a really cool brand that we have created with Daria’s Donuts and is everything that we have talked about with health, fitness and a little bit of enjoyment and lifestyle stuff.
AM: What is your favorite donut in your favorite city?
DB: In Louisiana, I’ll never forget when I took a bite out of this donut. It was in Lafayette, Louisiana and it’s called Meche's Donut King. It’s a tiny little hole in the wall. Best donut that I have ever had in my life.
AM: What donut was it?
DB: A hot, classic glazed donut. But it was warm, the bread was moist and it was just perfect.
AM: I've been a fan of E! Total Divas and have enjoyed seeing your storyline on it. What was it about being on this show that made you want to be apart of it?
DB: They auditioned me for Total Divas two years in a row actually. The year before, they decided not to add anybody new. When they asked me to do it, I immediately said yes. I love Total Divas, I think it is one of the coolest shows because it gives the mainstream demographic a look into our lives. People don’t watch wrestling – like growing up, I didn’t watch wrestling. But I remember walking into my mom’s room and she had on Total Divas. It was the episode when Nattie busted her nose or something like that. I’ll never forget it. I asked my mom who the girls were and if they were wrestlers because I couldn’t understand it. She explained it to me and I knew I wanted to do that.
I swear on my life, I went online and went to apply. I don’t remember why, but I couldn’t apply. Either I wasn’t 18 yet or at the time, you couldn’t have tattoos. Either way I forget. There was some stipulation on the website where I told my mom that I couldn’t do it yet. It’s really funny because life comes full circle!
I was intrigued through Total Divas because I watched E! It was such a cool look to show our world and what goes on behind the scenes for those that don’t watch wrestling. Maybe looking at it could help them get into wrestling, enjoy the sport and fall in love with it just like we did. It’s really been fun and it was a no brainer when they asked. Of course, I was nervous about putting my whole entire life out there – my family, my friends and my relationship. That was nerve wracking. Obviously, it's much more nerve wracking to be yourself on camera versus playing a character on camera. It was a really cool experience and I feel like I have learned a lot more about myself doing it and I would definitely do it again.
AM: Who are you close to in the WWE that you consider being in your squad?
DB: Well Mandy was. Liv Morgan, Carmella – those are the ones that I’m closest too. Bayley, Becky Lynch – those are like my girls.
AM: Love that. Once again seeing all of those interactions on the show is fun for the Athleisure Media team as we love seeing a number of the people that we have done photoshoots and interviews with and seeing how their personalities on the show are just like when they were with us on set. Or seeing a scene and knowing that we were with them the day before.
DB: Right! That’s funny. We have such a good locker room because we all get along so well – we’re blessed. We have Trin, Saronas – we have such a cool locker room.
AM: We have been media sponsors for the past 4 years of NYC Pride as we think it's so important to celebrate and be allies to the LGBTQ community. As the first openly lesbian Superstar in the WWE how important was it for your to share your sexuality and how can the WWE improve representation and equality?
DB: Absolutely. It’s funny and I’m reminded every single day why I share my story and why I’m open about my life to the fans. Obviously, it’s not the easiest decision and not the easiest way to live. It’s much easier to just be yourself and to think that no one needs to know. I chose to share my story and I’m s happy that I did because I hear from people every single day that they are struggling with coming out and figuring who they are and sharing it with their loved ones, family and friends. We’ve made leaps and bounds in the LGBTQ community and in the world with acceptance and equality. But there is still so much to do. The fight is never over and I think it is so important to have an ally in the public eye. For me when I was growing up, the only gay person that I ever saw on TV was Ellen Degeneres and so there wasn’t many other representatives that I knew at the time.
So for me, a closeted gay girl that grew up in a small town in south New Jersey, I didn’t even think that it was a thing. I didn’t think that I could possibly be gay because I didn’t know anybody that was. I would have thoughts and I would push them way down in there because I didn’t think it could be. It seemed far fetched and I didn’t allow myself to be who I was. I find a lot of light in being able to do that for this generation’s Daria. I want to be the voice for the little me that never had one. For all of these kids, teens and adults who are dealing with these things now – they know who they are but they don’t have anyone to talk to about it or they don’t think it’s ok – just help them with their struggling emotions and let them know that it is more than ok. It’s more than ok to be who you are, it’s more than ok to love who you love and there is nothing to be apologetic about. Anybody who is meant to be in your life, will remain in your life, those who aren’t will exit. Everything happens for a reason and there is no love that is not pure.
I like to be that voice because I know all to well that feeling of not feeling you have anyone to relate to.
AM: What LGBTQ initiatives do you support?
DB: About a year or two ago we worked with WWE to get the first line of LGBTQ wrestling shirts. I got my “Put Your Hair Up and Square Up” rainbow shirt, Finn Balor got his, Becky Lynch got hers, Charlotte Flair – a bunch of Superstars I think 10 of them got them. The proceeds of the rainbow shirts went to GLAAD We were on the GLAAD Pride parade float in the NYC World Pride Parade. I was the representative for that! I got to ride the float and to represent WWE which was a super cool experience. We did the Spirit Day Lounge and NY ComicCon a few years back in NY. Slowly but surely, we’re getting a lot more involvement with community and I push for it every year. We’re always having meetings about it and what we can do to represent.
I have my own line called Rainbow Love which is completely LGBTQ friendly forward clothing line. One of the first shirts that we dropped said, “You Are Not Alone” with the Suicide Prevention Hotline on the back. It’s a super cool shirt and one of my favorite designs in the entire line. It’s so strong and it’s just so powerful. It just speaks for itself and lets you know that you shouldn’t be afraid to talk – to reach out for help to talk to somebody as we’re all going through shit and life isn’t every easy, but there is always a light at the end of the tunnel with a silver lining. It’s ok to have a Heavy Heart, but Rainbow Love. There’s a bigger line which is called Heavy Heart which this is apart of.
There’s a bunch of different ways that I try to do stuff like that. This year, I had planned on being on 6 or 7 Pride floats with the WWE behind me. Obviously, plans have changed on that a little bit, but we are working and talking about how we can be there to support virtually.
I look back at myself before I came out and know that I wasn’t able to be myself. When you’re keeping this secret from people that you are close with and those that you love the most, and you can’t act the way you want to in public it’s such a depressing feeling – it affects and manifests in ways that you can’t imagine and you don’t realize it. I mean, hindsight is 20-20 and all I can say to people is that being open and honest with who I was was the best decision that I ever made.
AM: Tell us about Quibi's WWE unscripted series "Fight Like a Girl."
DB: This was a really cool project. WWE partnered with Quibi which is a network with bite sized videos and a new series called “Fight Like a Girl,” focuses on a young woman who wants to make changes in her life for the better. She is teamed up with a WWE Superstar to help reach those goals and accomplishments. They go through a training program at the state of the art WWE Performance Center in Orlando as well as an extensive physical training, emotional training, mental training and mentorship program with Superstars. It’s really a cool show. I was partnered with a girl named Samantha who was closeted to half of her family and she was nervous to tell her father’s side. We just talked honestly and I just told her my journey and I think she was able to relate to the things that I said. I used fitness and force and working out as my biggest crutch when I was going through everything. It was my sanity and happy place when I was going through a lot of the stuff that I have been through. I think she was able to relate to that and she really got into working out and got in incredible shape and it was such a cool experience to see her total mind and body transformation. It was really cool.
AM: Circling back, we were talking about your clothing line, Rainbow Love, how did the line come about?
DB: My good friend Bobbie owns Black Craft clothing which is in Hot Topic and a couple of other stores. He wanted to expand and make a new line as he had been working on that for years. He wanted to make a new line, Heavy Heart and he called me up to be apart of it. He said that he didn’t know the kinds of things that I was into, but he knew that I wanted to make a clothing line anyway. He asked me if I wanted my own line under Heavy Heart. I would be able to name it, come up with the concept – whatever. We went back and forth for months with ideas and throwing things against the wall to see what would stick. I told him that I wanted to do something that I was passionate about and I didn’t want to just throw a logo on a shirt and call it a day. I suggested doing a LGBTQ forward line and he thought it was dope. We came up with the “You’re Not Alone Shirt” with the Suicide Prevention Hotline and a few other shirts, another one called True Colors, a couple that just says Rainbow Love with a cool graphic of my face on it. We just hand designed all of the stuff and we wanted the line to be very raw. We wanted it to speak for itself and let people know that it is ok to express your emotions and to be as dark or as bright as you feel. Life’s not always perfect and it’s ok to be in your feels. It’s ok to have a Heavy Heart, but Rainbow Love. It’s been really cool and I think the fan response has been incredible.
We’re trying to set something up where maybe one of our product’s proceeds will go to a charity or maybe a percentage of all of the products will. We don’t know all the details yet but we are working on that. I just want to be able to help in any way that I can with Suicide Prevention and LGBTQ community in general. It’s been so cool and my fans love it because it is something that they can relate to. The clothing line is friendly to them. It’s more inclusivity that’s subtle but really sweet at the same time.
I wanted it to be clothes that I would rock everyday that you would see me in. I wear the shirts all the time and it’s totally my vibe. Obviously, it’s black because I wear a lot of that, but it’s got the color pop on it too and that matches with my personality as well. I am a little social butterfly despite my dark character persona with Sonya Deville. It’s relatable and true to who I am.
AM: A number of people from the WWE like Dwayne Johnson and John Cena have gone on to having movie careers, competition reality shows etc - do you have plans to follow in their footsteps?
DB: That’s been a goal of mine as acting is my passion and my first dream! Something I have always kept in mind is that you have to go where your path takes you. You have to work hard, but if life hands you a lemon – you have to make lemonade. That’s what I did. I got a little off of the path of becoming an actor, but I actually found something that could get me there in a better way in my opinion. To follow in the footsteps of John Cena, Dwayne Johnson and Dave Bautista – guys that have come over from WWE and stepped into Hollywood. That’s ultimately the long time game plan. I want to act in television and in film. I’d love to be in The Mandalorian or The Fast and The Furious.
AM: Could so see that.
DB: Right? It would be so fun! I feel like I have created a little brand for myself with WWE and that’s just going to continue to grow and it will make the transition nice and smooth. In the meantime, I have been working with an acting coach, Sean Whalen for the last 2 years. I have been putting in extra hours which isn’t always easy when you’re on the road, but it has helped tremendously with everything that I do from WWE to acting. That’s my goal to be the first female that has made that huge leap.
AM: What advice do you have for women and girls on how they should blaze their own trails in career and in life?
DB: Well if it helps any – I was called crazy and ridiculous. I was 17 moving out of my house saying I was going to be a professional MMA fighter and an actor in a time where Ronda Rousey didn’t exist yet in the UFC. It was a horse of a very different path and no one thought that I was capable except for myself. The power of believing in yourself is so strong! I would say, say less – do more. Put your head down and work your ass off and you can literally accomplish anything. My story is a testament to that. There were so many times that I got down on myself and I said, "I'm not going to make it," I still woke up every day at 6am and trained for 4 hours and then bartended until 2am and did it all over again. You’ve got to grind if you want it. Just don’t ever give up on your dreams. There’s nothing more gratifying in your life than living your dreams.
AM: We like asking people who are 3 people that inspire them in their careers or in life whether you know them personally, follow them online etc?
DB: Ellen Degeneres for sure, Gina Carano and I’m going to go with my mom. Everyone plays a certain role. Ellen showed me at a very young age so much strength and resilience. She wasn’t only in a very male dominated world but a hetero dominated world. She broke down so many barriers for women and LGBTQ people. She’s inspirational in her own right and went through so many struggles being who she is.
Gina Carano was the first pioneer of the MMA for women and was one of the first huge female superstars that people would actually pay to go see. She’s incredibly badass.
My mom is just the definition of unconditional love and support. Although everyone else called my dreams crazy, she did not call them crazy and for that, she is my day one!
PHOTOS COURTESY | PG 16, 26, 28, 30 + 32 WWE | PG 18 + 21 Vince Trupsin | PG 22, 24 + 39 Ryan Loco | PG 35 TOTAL DIVAS -- Season 9 Gallery -- Pictured: Sonya -- (Photo by: Brian Bowen Smith/E! Entertainment) | PG 36 TOTAL DIVAS -- Maui Vacation -- Pictured: (l-r) Carmella, Sonya -- (Photo by: Mario Perez/E! Entertainment) |
Hear WWE Superstar & E! Total Divas', Daria Berenato/Sonya Deville this month on our show, #TRIBEGOALS -which is a part of Athleisure Studio, our multi-media podcast network! Make sure to subscribe to find out when the episode drops. You can hear it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts and wherever you enjoy listening to your favorite podcast.
Read the April Issue of Athleisure Mag and see From the Ring to the World with Daria Berenato in mag.
