Out WWE Superstar Sonya Deville, Donut Entrepreneur

Out lesbian wrestler Daria Berenato, known worldwide by her WWE stage-name Sonya Deville “The Pride Fighter,” is attending her very first L.A. Pride Parade Sunday, riding the wrestling entertainment conglomerate’s float.

“I’m like super stoked,” Berenato told me in a Zoom chat before the parade stepped off. She posted messages for fans from the parade on her social media.

In 1970, the march down Hollywood Boulevard made history as the first-ever permitted LGBTQ+ parade in the world. Berenato has previously attended World Pride in New York City in 2019, as well as the Pride Parade in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., that same year.

Berenato, 28, came out as lesbian in 2015, when a WWE judge asked her during an interview before a worldwide television audience if she was in a relationship. “I don’t have a wife yet, but I have a girlfriend,” Berenato said. The former MMA fighter didn’t win the Tuff Enough reality show, but she did sign a contract as the first out lesbian wrestler in the WWE.

“I came out on the premiere episode of the first reality show I did, and it was not intentional, and it was not something that I had thought about or planned,” Berenato told me. “I was scared and I didn’t know what it was going to mean for me. I didn’t know if it was good or bad. I was really kind of just flying by the seat of my coattails, waiting to see it all play out. And it’s been it’s been a really positive experience for me.”

Like many things, her relationships have changed over the past seven years. But what hasn’t changed is her commitment to representation of the LGBTQ+ community. If anything’s it’s only deepened.

“It’s something that’s super important because I went through that same journey that a lot of people are going through in the LGBTQ community, which is struggling with my sexuality and being open about it,” Deville told Outsports contributor Brian Bell on their LGBT In The Ring podcast in April.

Berenato made headlines again last month at the Netflix premiere of Stranger Things, by publicly kissing her girlfriend, model and fitness enthusiast Toni Cassano. Since then, they’ve been sharing their love story with their social media followers.

“We’ve been together for a few months now and it’s been the most incredible few months of any relationship I’ve ever been in,” said Berenato. “It’s just been so fun and so easy and so exciting and motivating. She’s like right here with me when it comes to work ethic and hustle and grinding and motivation. So we’re kind of just like neck and neck, grinding together and individually, every single day.”

Having finally found love, Berenato talked about what Pride means to her.

“I think every year it kind of means something a little bit different to me, just as I evolve in my journey and get more comfortable with who I am and my sexuality,” she said. “I feel like it’s different every year. It used to be I would watch from afar and I would wish I could be out there, but I just wasn’t ready yet. And so now it’s a thing where I embrace it and I get to go out and do these events and I feel comfortable doing so. And now I get the opportunity to use my voice and my platform to speak out for what we believe in, and for the community, and hopefully create a safer, more open environment in sports, entertainment and in WWE, for those looking to join, and watch, and letting them know that it’s a very inclusive space in WWE, and if I’m here, we all can be here.”

Berenato also has a commitment to her favorite snack food: donuts. What started several years ago as a YouTube series with her friend and business partner, Mandy Rose, morphed into a popular website and an online store. And now, she revealed in this interview, that they are about to turn their passion into a brick and mortar business.

“So myself and Mandy Rose, who is also a WWE superstar and my former tag team partner and best friend, we own a donut company. We started a kind of social media donut show five, six years ago now, and we saw that it piqued people’s interest and people were interested in watching us eat donuts and talk about them. And so we started a YouTube series a few years back where we traveled the globe for WWE, and whatever city we were in, we would just try the local donut shop and then we would rate them. And it kind of became this thing that we didn’t think it would become, and our fans loved it and it was super just fun and lighthearted, just something we could interact with the fans by doing,” Berenato told me.

“And so eventually we were like, ‘Wait, we’ve tasted like every donut in America. Why don’t we create our own donut line and make it super true to what we like in a donut?’ Because we became like aficionados of donuts at this point. And so here comes our baby, DaMandyz Donutz. We have a website, DaMandyz.com, where we sell a lot of cool, fun merch and stuff. But now we are launching our first official donut spot in Los Angeles. And this is the first interview I’ve ever said that in, but it will be available via delivery service. So you guys will be able to go on your food delivery app—not going to say which one yet—and order DaMandyz Donutz, probably within the next few months, for sure.”

Berenato said next year her company will consider making a Pride donut to go with the merchandise already on sale at their site, and plans to expand beyond L.A.

“We’re definitely going to be coming to more cities,” she said.

In August 2020, a South Carolina man obsessed with Berenato was arrested for stalking and attempting to kidnap her, after he broke into her Florida home and came face to face with the wrestler and Rose. He spent a year behind bars until he was finally transferred to a mental health facility because he was deemed unfit to stand trial.

I asked her how she deals with haters, and those who pose a threat to her and those she cares about.

“I don’t think I’ve really figured it out yet,” she said. “I feel like I’m just kind of taking it day by day and trying to figure out where that line is. I mean, at the end of the day, I choose to be in the spotlight and I choose to share my story and my journey to an extent with the fans, because I think that it could help. And I remember being 19 years old, 20 years old, closeted and not comfortable with my sexuality, and kind of like, earning for that representation in the public eye. And so I take pride in that, so I don’t ever regret putting myself out there, but I do think I take more precautions now than I did in the beginning, just to make sure the people around me and myself can share our story, but in a safe space. And I just encourage the fans always to appreciate that and respect that that we love you guys, and we want to interact with you guys and we want to have fun, and be able to DM you back, and message you back and interact. But you know, they got to know where the line is, too.”

Berenato’s other project this Pride Month is promoting merchandise from WWE to benefit GLAAD, following her support of the NFL’s collaboration with the LGBTQ+ media advocacy organization.

Asked about the controversies involving trans athletes in sports and Gov. Ron DeSantis’ anti-LGBTQ laws and policies in Florida, Berenato chose her words carefully, sidestepping any political stance, but made it clear she is a supporter of equality.

“I’ll just say we’re all equal and who you are and how you identify is who you are and how you identify. And that’s what I’ll respect and understand,” she said. “I don’t ever get political, just for my own sanity in mind. But yeah, I think my messaging is super simple: I obviously believe in equality. I accept everyone as they are, who they are, how they identify. And I think that everyone should be welcome in a conversation about who we are should never be frowned upon.”

Where does Berenato see herself in five years, or a decade from now? She told me she’s focused on where she is right now, with the WWE.

“I love it here and I feel like I’m in the mental space where I want to stay here as long as I can stay here” said Berenato. “I’m been a competitor my entire life. I’ve played sports all through high school, straight from high school. I got into MMA. and straight from MMA, I got to the WWE, so I don’t know what it would be like to not be competing in some sort of way. So, yeah, I’m a lifer. I want to be here as long as I can. And then I would love to dIve into other things. I’m building a brand and I speak for fitness and health and wellness, but I’m also an entrepreneur with these donuts, and I take a lot of pride in that. And I also love film and television and would love to dive into some acting roles as well. So I kind of have my hands in a few different things. But yeah, WWE is and will be my main focus for the extended future that I can see.”

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