WWE Loss Into Reinvention | Daria Berenato on Breaking Norms & Overcoming Adversity

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1:26weeks later you tear your acl the biggest win of your life they don't renew your contract an alarm goes off 3 a.m in your house you open your eyes and there's a man standing four feet from you four years of messages from him with the very last message saying i'm finally here baby girl i'm on your patio i'll see you soon and i'm gonna kill that blonde inside with you you went to an ayahuasca retreat what did the quiet teach you that being in the arena couldn't i learned a big lesson coming off that retreat probably one of the hardest experiences of my life go forward with such vigor and build something that you believe in i just kept showing up and that's how i've gotten everywhere that i've gotten in life only we can count ourselves out but only we can count ourselves in that is what fuels me that is why i connect with your movement with your brand

2:28what's up guys i'm sitting here with daria baronado she is without a doubt one of the most reinvented individuals that i've ever had in this seat and i'm so happy to have her back on the show and to talk a little more deeply about her whole past and everything that she's gone through and overcame in her life and her new new brand new apparel company demon which i love i just bought four of their shirts and she sent me a nice box because I'm one of the founders, one of the first people to wear the shirt. And so without further ado, welcome to the show. I always love your intros. I liked the most reinvented.

3:05I really take that as a compliment because I feel like it's everything you talk about on this podcast is like, just keep going. And there's kind of never a destination. It's always a journey. So anyway. Well, no, I appreciate that. The intros are the hardest one because, you know, you really want to honor the guests and you don't want to fuck it up. You know what I mean? And sometimes, you know, the speech pattern slows down and then, you know, it's just, it's a weird thing, but, you know, truly the reinvention of you has been tremendous. There's been so many things that you've gone through, you know, but I don't, I don't want to start there.

3:39I want to start at the beginning, right? The little girl doing lemonade stands in South Jersey and Chemong. What was that girl actually chasing? oh the real answer um i think independence and control over her life um i had a great childhood and i love my parents and my family but i think i i wanted to be on my own you know i wanted to get away from certain things and i always had this like desire or like yearning for hyper independence. Like I wanted to do things on my own. I knew from a young age, I wasn't going to want to depend on anybody else financially. Um, and so I always had a strong urge to kind of create my own.

4:26That's interesting to me because when people have great childhoods like you did, there's usually not that yearning for independence, financial stability. Was there something that led you to that? Maybe financial struggle? Um, so I think it was my, So my mom and my dad are still best friends to this day, but they got divorced when I was young, when I was like two years old. And so my mom remarried my stepdad and they were together for like 20 years. They're no longer together. But there was definitely, you know, our financial stability came from him at that point. And so when things weren't great, I think she hung around for the security for our family and did the best thing for our family.

5:09And I just hated seeing her in that position where she couldn't have full independence, you know. And so and my dad was, you know, very hardworking, built his family company from 10 employees to 80 employees and then just sold the company. So he was kind of an entrepreneur his entire life. And I think seeing the way he operated, not ever having to answer to anybody and just building his own was really inspiring to me. And it was kind of like the path that I wanted. That's awesome. Yeah. Thank you for that. Side note. Yeah. Every time I talk to you, I feel like I learned something else that we have in common.

5:52My biological father and my mom split when I was two. Whoa. and then she remarried another time that was quick that was over a heartbeat but my dad that raised me they were together for about 20 years and then they ended up divorcing so there's a lot of commonalities there's a lot of commonalities there yeah it's just it's always nice to to learn more about you as we become better friends yeah holy shit wait me too like yeah this is crazy no i know and we all we both were all black yeah i mean i have to you know it's slimming yeah you You know, it looks nice. You know, you talk about this South Jersey attitude, just shut up and do it.

6:29Where did that come from and who taught you that?

6:36You know, I don't know who specifically taught it to me. Maybe my dad from watching him. He wasn't much of like a, I'm going to tell you how to do it, do it this way. He just led by example. Like I kind of learned most of what I know just by watching how he operated. But it was that very like shut up and do it mentality. There wasn't a lot of space between an idea and then the execution of that idea. And I felt like growing up, you know, parents are always telling your kids like be patient. Things take time. And like obviously circumstantially that's true. But I feel like more times than not in business and in success, it's actually the opposite.

7:19And so for me, as I started figuring that out as an adult, it kind of was therapeutic because I was like, this urge of rush that I've always had from birth is now accepted in this one avenue, which is business and hustle. So I operate that way. You know, with the clothing company Demon, I had the idea and we did our first drop within two months. I mean, that's everything. That's sourcing manufacturers, that's logo design, hiring employees, storing, warehousing, everything within, I think, maybe two and a half, three months. Because when I'm passionate about something, I want to see it come to fruition.

7:59And the more time you leave on the table, the more time you have to second guess yourself or overthink it or, you know, change your mind. And I really like organic thought. So I wanted that organic idea to kind of come to fruition. That's pretty cool because when you think of speed to execution, patience is one thing. I think it takes patience to wait for the massive glow up of demon or whatever it is that you're building. But the initial execution has to happen quick because, as you said, limiting beliefs set in. You asked too many opinions from people that probably have never built a clothing line.

8:34Yeah, that part. Right? And that's real because those people want to keep you where they're at so they don't lose you. but it's super important to once you have an idea you have to move on it quickly when i started the show and consulted with my wife about it she's the only one i talked to about it and she goes great do it but haven't figured out by the time you get home and execute it or i don't want to hear about it again and that night i recorded my first show wow so sometimes you do need the people that are going to give you that tough love to stick that shank in your side a little bit to be like you need to move on this but i but i really love that explanation of it because the speed to execution with anything when you have an idea and there's a purpose behind it i think it's important and before i move on to something else i i will always go back to demon sure but you know i want you to talk about the mission behind demon because you're not building just a clothing brand you're building a movement and it is very aligned with the determined society yes so um i was with wwe obviously for 10 years it was amazing since leaving it was definitely kind of starting over right it was figuring out okay my entire identity for my entire adult life has been I'm a professional athlete I'm a wrestler with the WWE and that's no longer my identity and so that was a bit of a learning curve for me and I was like what is it that I care to do in this world and obviously acting as one of those things that I'm very passionate about and also pursuing.

10:10But I have messaging that I've always had kind of ingrained in me from child that I feel very strongly about. And, you know, it's built without permission is the tagline for demon. And what that means to me is not waiting for societal norms to align with your vision and your passions and going forth with complete vigor and believing that you know what you're doing before anyone else can kind of see that. And so Built Without Permission is kind of how I lived my entire life. I definitely wasn't a scholar in school. In traditional education, I loved educating myself, just not in the setting of a classroom.

10:50And so I think that led a lot of people to believe early on that I probably wasn't going to do much with my life. But I knew I was going to do something just not in the school setting. And so this clothing line is kind of for the people that were doubted like me to kind of tell you, screw what everyone says. I was trying not to curse. Fuck what everybody says. You can curse. Yeah. Yeah. And go forward with such vigor to prove to yourself to make yourself proud every day and build something that you believe in. Because a lot of times, like you said, even the people that love us most can't see our vision because they're clouded with emotion or trying to protect themselves from something they don't want to experience.

11:33And only you know what you're truly capable of. And it's not a linear path. I don't want people to think like, oh my God, you're so strong. You can just go forward with all these pursuits and have no doubt. No, there's doubt along the entire path. There's shame, there's guilt, there's insecurities along the entire path. That's not the secret magic of it all. It's going forward anyway. With whatever you have left in the tank, just keep going because those monotonous things that may feel small are the tangible things that get you to the bigger goal. And sometimes your one-day effort doesn't match your day before, but you still give 100 % of whatever you got that day.

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12:49But I've been super happy with the results with Lock Lab. And like I said, it's super simple. Every single day, I just take one pill and I'm ready to rock. Do it in the morning. Don't have to worry about it. It's been super nice to put that into my daily routine. Lock Lab was formulated by the past president of the American Board of Hair Restoration Surgery and one of the American Hair Loss Association's 2026 best surgeons in the world to help give men the most hair back medically possible. You can get Lock Lab 100 % online and delivered direct to your door. Simply click through the questionnaire and once approved, you'll receive your treatment in days.

13:29If you've been thinking about doing something about hair loss, now's the time. Go to locklab.co and take the first step with a free consultation. You know, built without permission, and you have about five sentences that I sent you the other day. And I don't remember all of them. But the first two, built without permission for those who have been overlooked. Yeah. I have been overlooked my whole life. And to this day, it happens religiously. And that is what fuels me. That is why I connect with your movement, with your brand. And you've sent me many texts. You don't have to do that. Yeah, I do.

14:06I do have to do this because for me, I get it. That made me see you so much more. Just those five sentences, I'm like, oh, shit. This is how I feel every day. it's really relatable when i whenever i hear you talk i'm like oh my gosh i agree with so much of that because i my story really is the underdog story i wasn't the the best the fastest the i wasn't the isst of anything i just kept showing up and that's how i've gotten everywhere that i've gotten in life you know i tell the story because i think it's powerful i didn't make the basketball team my first three years I tried out. My seventh grade, my eighth grade, or my sixth, seventh, and eighth grade year I didn't make the basketball team.

14:51Freshman year, for whatever reason, I still tried out and then I made it and had a great couple years playing. And so I say that to say like only we can count ourselves out, but only we can count ourselves in. So you got to just keep going. You've always been brave. That's the one thing when I dig into everything. You've always been a risk taker you're always pushing that envelope of societal norms yeah when you're 16 yeah you walk into an mma gym what does it take for a teenage girl to walk into a fight gym it's funny because people have brought this to my attention i i do admittingly love risk it i i get uncomfortable when i feel like i'm stagnant i'm not doing things that make me uncomfortable.

15:37That's just in my DNA. But yeah, so walking into the fight gym, again, I wasn't scared at all. I knew that's what I wanted to do. I had seen Gina Carano and Chris Cyborg, some of the greatest female fighters at the time before females were allowed to fight in the UFC. And they inspired me so much. They were poised and beautiful and badass and strong. And I just knew that that's what I wanted to do. So yeah, I walked into this fight gym and it's owned by this little italian guy and he comes out and he's like can i help you you know typical jersey and i'm like yeah i want to be a fighter and he's like what it's like a boxing gym they're in mma full mma gyms didn't exist back then true and um i said yeah i want to be a fighter an mma fighter and he's like okay put your stuff down so i had like jeans on my mom had just like picked me up from school and brought me there i didn't have my license yet and he was like come on my mom sat right there and watched the whole thing and he like had me doing burpees to pull-ups to box jumps like just crazy um intense circuit training and we did it for about i don't know 20 minutes he looked at me and goes all right tomorrow at 10 like it was like that and i was like okay did he i think i think i just got like hate initiated into this gym um got jumped in yeah somehow and so i started showing up i was there every single day god bless my mom she was the best she would drive me like an hour 45 minutes from my house to go here and um because we lived in a really really small town that didn't have anything like this and then when i got my license i would drive myself and i fell in love with fighting because i'm a fighter um not by career choice but by nature yeah like i am a fighter whether i need to be fighting things or not i fight them you know it's just the way that i operate in life um and you know some people like it and some people don't but i i fight with all my heart and so when i found fighting it just like i connected with it on such a deep level i was like oh my god here's this thing it doesn't solely depend on anything really but how much you put into it and heart you look at some of the best fighters it's because they have that fire inside of them and some of them are very technical and very athletic of course but you gotta have the fight inside you

17:55I'm reflecting on something you said okay you're a fighter by nature and you fight with your whole heart yes that connected with me because I am a fighter by nature I will fight until the death not in the ring or on the streets but in anything that I do I can see it I'm fully invested in it and I'm my heart is bigger than this whole room just like yours that exposes us a little bit yeah How do you deal with heartbreak when you're building something? Because listen, people like us, we have this tough exterior. We don't look tough. But then when people get to know us, they're like, that person's tough.

18:36But on the inside, we can be silently hurting. This part I might not have mastered yet, but I will tell you what I do. Me neither. Yeah, it's hard. um yeah of course i i am definitely more sensitive than i lead people to believe i look at heartbreak i guess uh not getting my contract renewed with wwe would probably be the biggest example of heartbreak in recent years and i really packed it all up and i just kept going yeah and i don't know that that's the advice i would give someone else um and then you know with that i would have days where i would break down and it would be painful um but i wouldn't wouldn't allow myself to do that too often yeah because life is about momentum right success is momentum that's all it is it's it's piled up wins it could be that's why they tell you like successful people make their bed in the morning because it's just a small win and it builds your confidence throughout the day to allow you to pursue whatever you're trying to do and so I like momentum to keep going upward and I don't do well on the down.

19:49Cause I can take, I can take a downward spiral and I could, I could take it deep too. Oh boy. Yeah. I feel that right there. The highs are high. The lows are low. And that's the hard thing about individuals like that are wired like us. It's like, if I'm on a high, like you're going to know it. Yeah. You know, but if I'm on a low, everybody in the house is going to know my husband or my dad is not an a good place. And that's something that I have to get better at, that we both have to improve upon. 100%. Because it's not fair to the loved ones around us. It's not fair to Tony, right? It's one of those things that's just like, damn it, I got to get this under control.

20:26And I'm getting better at it. For sure. But I'm surely not a master at it yet. Me either. You've brought up the WWE a couple different times. So I want to bring that in real quick. You were there for 10 in the ears like you said yeah and um it ended in one phone call yeah how does that how did that sit

20:52it it definitely hurt my feelings more than i let social media know or anybody around me probably know and it's it wasn't that i took it personal because it's a business i totally understand and And, you know, it was more that I got signed when I was 21. I was still a forming human. And so I was there until I was 31. My entire identity, my entire adult life, all I knew out of adult living was I'm a WWE wrestler. Every single week I fly out. I'm on the road for four days a week. I'm home in my bed maybe two for 10 years. And sometimes I'm not home for three, four weeks at a time. if we have a european tour or whatever so it defined who i was i didn't know who daria was or what i what i stood for outside of that and so i was hurt because it was like kind of like mourning a loss yeah of course and um i loved everyone there you know from production to ring guys to the camera guys to talent to makeup department like they were my best friends i was cool with everybody and so just that the breaking of that cycle that routine um those friendships was was hard this is a hard question to answer but i want it for the audience because i need them to sit with this okay took you eight years to win a championship you were in the first royal rumble you won your championship with who was it?

22:30Chelsea Green. Chelsea Green. And then three weeks later, you tear your ACL, right? Yeah. And that is kind of when in mid-negotiation, they let you know we're not renewing your contract. How does one move forward and stay positive or not go into a depression state, so to speak, when the biggest win of your life and then they don't renew your contract, that's a gut punch. So a big success and a gut punch so close together. Believing in the universe and God. That's the only way I could wrap my mind around it is that I'm always being protected. I'm always being watched. And we, things come and go from our lives for the reason of the journey.

23:24Like we are here, my belief is we are here to have a journey. It's not about the destination or else we'd be rushing to our own end. So it's about the journey and it's about learning and growing. And hindsight's always 20-20. And so looking back, it's probably the best thing that could have happened to me. because I think that I was becoming, numb is not a great word, but like, yeah, I was kind of becoming numb to the routine and stagnant. And I felt a little broken down. I felt like I was losing that kind of luster that I always had, that fire that I always had. And it wasn't for a lack of the love of the sport, But, you know, just going through a lot of things and politics and all the kind of things that go into a high level sport like that.

24:18I was I needed it. Yeah, I needed it. I needed a wake up call. I needed a fresh start. And so the passion and the fire I've gained back for my life over the past. What has it been? Two years has been insane. I've seen it. Yeah, I've seen. And I didn't know you very well when we first met. Not in the studio. I felt like after that I really knew you. But prior, I pay attention. Sure. And I could just see that growth and that internal confidence of who you actually are as a human being grow real time. And it was really nice to see. You said something earlier that you kind of packed it away. Outside looking in, I don't think you did that.

25:04You took an 11-month break. Yep. You and Tony went to an ayahuasca retreat. Oh my God. Right? You went to an ayahuasca retreat. Yeah. That's a major healing. What did the quiet teach you that being in the arena couldn't? Yeah. You hit the nail on the head. I learned a big lesson coming off that retreat. And it was probably one of the hardest experiences of my life. But I kept getting an overwhelming message while I was there that was like, let things flow and i think i might have mentioned this last time i was on your podcast but it was like i was trying to force square pegs into round holes i think things that weren't meant to be mine um and the more that i i'm still working on this but the more that i let things flow work your ass off of course but kind of let them come and go and if it's not meant for okay I'm good with that things are coming more easily into my life it matches up with what you said that that call from the WWE you needed that yeah I saw something recently and I sent it to Sam um I don't know if I sent it to Will but it was this dude talking about, it was just a talking head video.

26:27And it was, you have to realize that everything you're being stripped of right now, the people that are jumping off your train, everything that you're losing is to free you up for what God actually has in store for you. So you can become the individual that can achieve that. That's powerful. It's a hundred percent fact in my mind. Yeah. Yeah, I fully believe that too. Yeah, absolutely. So that's why it's hard for me to say I was so upset because I was. But I don't look at any of it as a negative. I had to go through that. Just like when you have to go through a breakup in a relationship that you're not meant to be in.

27:06Like it hurts. You love the person still, but you know it's not your person. You know maybe they were dragging you down or holding you back or whatever it is. So it's like it's a hurt that had to happen. None of us anticipate and are excited for those moments, but we understand you have to have those. And dude, it's the same thing with friends. It's the same thing with business partners. It's the same thing. Like you love that person, but sometimes you outgrow them or they outgrow you, vice versa. Like, you know, it's not one way or just you end up not being aligned. and it's so hard for that breakup because you mourn the past relationship but also what you think could have been and what you think could have been is not what he's saying so we have to learn to let that go right yeah man so your beginning your journey was tough enough yeah you're 21 and there was one honest moment you were asked a question you had one second to think about it you were asked about your relationship if you were in one tell me about that one second scariest second of my life yeah so i'm 21 and one's half enough i am in a long-term relationship with a girl from jersey we had moved to la together um and she came from a very conservative greek family where she was not out um i was actually threatened by her mom one time she came to my car window suspecting we were dating because we were hanging out a lot and she was like screaming like are you with my dog are you are you and she couldn't even say the word gay because it made her uncomfortable so she kept saying are you are you and i was kind of like being a jerk so i was like am i what i don't understand what you're asking me because i just had no tolerance for that um especially back then but yeah so i go on this show and not for a second did i think any of my personal life would matter because it's a competition show like there's no behind the scenes whatever and i'm in the ring doing like the interview portion of the show and is triple h and kristen prouty and all these executives at wwe i think it was triple h that asked it he's like are you in a relationship currently which is such a simple yeah reality show question sure but for me it was fucking loaded because i was like i'm not out yet there she's not out yet she can't be out and so i'm like oh fuck lie on national television then everyone thinks I'm going in this show single which like that could be dangerous and I could hurt my girlfriend's feelings or do I say the truth and maybe out my girlfriend if her mom's watching I don't know what to do and I got so nervous and of course my instincts kicked in and I told the truth I was like yeah I have a girlfriend shout out Christina called her ass right out there was no hiding anymore and Triple H was like did you just come out on national television and I was like yes sir like and i'm so nervous i made a bikini for god's sakes which that's another story in itself everyone there was like fitness competitors i'm like this rough around the edges jersey girl i came with like my billabong bathing suit these girls came with like show bikinis you know you could just imagine the difference and so i was so comfortable and i ran upstairs and i was like oh my god oh my god and i grabbed mandy my best friend and i was like i just came out on national tv and da da da and a series of events unfolded after that.

30:28But nonetheless, my girlfriend at the time, mom found out and it was like a whole thing. Oh, what a shit show. Yeah, what a shit show. But good on you. That must have been a rush to come out on national television when you weren't necessarily comfortable with being out yet. Right. My parents knew, my sisters knew, but no one beyond that knew. And I wasn't even fully identifying myself as although i was i wasn't comfortable you know i wasn't really comfortable in my own skin i think i bartended at a bar and i don't think anyone knew i had a girlfriend so like that's where i was at at that point just to give you clarity and it's like yeah i was like holy shit what the fuck did i just do so it was a rush again scary thing kind of in the moment not a good thing in my mind became one of the greatest blessings because then i started living my life so authentically from that on out because I had no choice that right there you know your your girlfriend at the time mom could have been pissed yeah Christina could have been pissed yeah but for you you were living your truth right and it's all about honesty in the world and a few weeks later a fan came out publicly because of what he saw you yeah I well damn it now you gave him to me because of your honesty, at what point did you realize that you living so authentically was truly helping people in their lives?

31:52Not for a while, probably not for a couple years later until a couple years later when I really started doing like media and press and, you know, I was on the cover of various magazines during Pride Month and all this kinds of stuff and people wanted to do a story. I was like, why are all these people interested? I was so confused. And of course I would get the messages on social media, like telling me about their coming out story and how mine had influenced theirs. And I, you know, it had to be a couple of years later where I was like, holy crap, this is really cool. And that's when I started kind of putting myself out there more and doing the pride parades and all kinds of other things.

32:28Because I started to realize that I enjoyed the feeling of knowing that I could make someone feel more comfortable because I was them just a couple of years ago. But that's the badass part about it, right? It's like, what can we do in our lives to be so open and vulnerable that it inspires somebody else to move in their own life? It's a lot of responsibility. It is. But the messages mean everything. You get them, I get them, and when I get them, it lights me up. Me too. I mean, except the one on TikTok the other day that someone said that he hopes I get hit by a fucking bus. Oh, well, there's those two.

33:05You've got to take the quote with the bat. Oh, I can take the bot comments. It's fine. It's whatever. but you know it's just one of those things man that when you do something you you you should want to do it out of purpose have to because those that's the impact have to you know that's how we lead here that's how you lead in your clothing brand yeah with phil and all your employees and what you guys are cranking out there and it's a beautiful moment so that that that situation to me because i didn't know that before oh really i know i didn't i didn't know that. And when I read that, I was like, Oh my God, this is incredible.

33:44This is everything right here. And then it led you to be the first openly gay WWW, I mean, WWE female, female. Did that feel like a weight or something that you just didn't sign up for? No, cause I don't think, I don't think like that. I don't think I go too deep into that. I just was like, okay, it's this thing and this is cool um i i think maybe the weight was just making sure i presented myself in a way that i could always make them proud but i i try to do that regardless but i wanted to just uh i think it's just like a passion of mine to try and help people that remind me of myself you know because it's that inner child in us going oh my god i can relate to how they're feeling so much right now i don't want anyone to ever feel like that um so i think a lot of my philosophy and my messaging early on in wwe what i used my platform for was really encouraging young women young people to be independent and to do their own and to believe in themselves and not rely on outside um kind of reassurance and validation because these were all things that meant a lot to me and that my younger self needed to hear so So it was therapeutic for me while also helping people.

35:03Well, it's very interesting because early on in your childhood, you wanted that independence, that freedom. When you're helping people, you're talking about helping women become more independent and have more freedom and being comfortable and living an authentic life. That is someone who's on a mission. It's different. It's different than I want to be a WWE superstar and a champion because I want the clout. that's so fucking empty but when you do things out of being yourself like you were like you said everybody else was in show bikinis you're the south jersey girl right you show up in a billabong bathing suit completely different but also that's what's marketable that is what wins because they can see that and be like that girl right there is going to be a superstar because she's comfortable in our own skin.