CEO Of Her Career, Mariah Bell Explains Her Mentality and the New Programs She Hopes Lead to Even More Success

At 24 years old, Mariah Bell has established that she is the CEO of her figure skating career. World-renowned technician Rafael Arutunian is head coach and technical advisor of the entity, and 2018 Olympic Team Event bronze medalist Adam Rippon is a combination of coach, lead choreographer and chief planner.
 
After two decades of skating, Bell now has a team in place that has her firing on all cylinders and reaching heights she had previously thought unattainable, with the 2019-20 season being her best yet. Bell won her first career ISU Challenger Series gold at Nebelhorn Trophy, then medaled at both her Grand Prix assignments for the first time, and finished the shortened season with a career-best silver at the 2020 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships with a free skate performance that brought the crowd to its feet in deafening applause.
 
"I've realized I'm the CEO and I make the decisions, and I've got this team around me that's the best team for me," Bell said. "And at the end of the day your team around you is the most important, but I have to do the work, so it's an understanding of my own responsibilities and also knowing it's my responsibility to keep people in place who I feel will benefit me the most, and I definitely feel like with Rafael and Adam I have that."
 
Bell remembers being stressed going into last season after feeling her 2018-19 performance was strong and worried she would struggle to replicate the success. Rippon pointed out that she did not win her Challenger Series events, had no Grand Prix medals and was third at U.S. Championships; it was far from her ceiling. She has learned from her team that "it can always be better."
 
"I think I will always have that mentality," she added.
 
She is also developing a mentality that will set her up for success post-skating.
 
"Someday I won't be competing anymore, and I'll look back and I just want to know that it was for myself," Bell reflected. "It wasn't to beat this person or that person, it was just to truly be my best, and that's something that will help me for the rest of my life."
 
Bell relishes in the exhaustion of everyday training and says she never wants to feel good during her sessions; she loves being tired.
 
"I can say the biggest thing, looking back at last year, that I truly remember is working really hard and then all the other things happened as a result of that," Bell recalled. "I had some of the best skates and best moments of my entire career, and I'm so grateful for them and I want to make more of them."
 
The skates Bell hopes make lasting memories for her this season will be a short program to P!nk's "Glitter in the Air," choreographed by Rippon and Molly Oberstar, and an ABBA medley free skate devised by Shae-Lynn Bourne. Maintaining what works among her team throughout the Olympic quadrennium, this is the third year in a row Rippon has choreographed her short and Bourne her free.
 
"Molly and I grew up working with a lot of the same choreographers and she's a brilliant skater," Rippon said of bringing in his friend and former competitive skater. "As soon as I told Molly we had to start brainstorming music, Molly brought up 'Glitter in the Air' as her first suggestion back in January. We asked Mariah what she thought, Mariah liked it and that was it."
 
This is also the third year Bell is skating to an iconic pop singer for her short program, after Celine Dion's version of "To Love You More" in 2018-2019 and Britney Spears' "Radar" and "Work B****" last season.
 
"I always like to stick with a strong female artist," Bell said, while Rippon noted that performing to this list of artists will lead to Bell becoming a more iconic skater.
 
"In a way it carries the same vibe as her free skate from last year," he said of this season's short. "She's done these more fun, upbeat short programs for the last two years that I think it was time for her to do something that felt more in her wheelhouse. If you do things that challenge yourself, when you come back to something that feels more natural, you're ten times better at performing your own style than before."
 
Bell knew she wanted a medley of songs for her free skate and Bourne proposed ABBA. Bell turned it down, then listened to it while on the ice and fell in love. The program includes four of the Swedish pop band's hits: "Dancing Queen," "Mamma Mia," "Thank You for the Music" and "The Winner Takes It All."
 
"It's turning out to be one of my most favorite programs I've ever done," Bell said. "It's super interesting and I like it because it pushes me out of my comfort zone to be a little more creative. It's also a great time to do that – we have this season and then the next one is the Olympic season, so I can choose if I keep these or what kind of style in the last three years worked well for me and choose programs based on that for the Olympic season."
 
Coach Rippon compared Bell's varied music and skating selections from the past few seasons to a buffet.
 
"I think that you need to keep trying new foods and you need to keep trying different ideas so when you realize, 'I did this really well,' or, 'I liked this the best,' you can find things within that avenue of what were your strengths, and now you know what your strengths are because you tried everything. It also pushes you as a performer. If you can perform something that you feel uncomfortable skating, then you can do anything. I think the risk is worth the reward and then when you get to the Olympic season you choose what your strengths are."
 
Rippon has helped Bell avoid becoming too complacent and is consistently changing up her training in order to keep her on her toes. While neither knows what those Olympic-season programs will look like yet – or what the 2020-21 pre-Olympic season will even look like – Rippon does know that he is eager to see an improved consistency from Bell in practices.
 
"I think one thing that I've seen is Mariah under pressure skates a million times better," Rippon noted. "I want to see more consistency in her practices, so she can feel even more solid when she goes to these events.
 
"She did an excellent job last season, but to be on the Olympic team she's going to need to show she's very consistent and super reliable. For Mariah, her secret weapon is she will need to be the most solid and reliable skater that they have. I think she can do that."