Angela Hovak Johnston is an Inuk woman who was raised on the land in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut until she was sent away to school. Using her Inuinnaqtun name given to her at birth is her way of carrying on a past relative's name and the characteristics of that ancestor. Hovak has a deep connection to her culture and traditional arts and skills. Now living in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Hovak does some type of traditional artwork every day, from sewing, soapstone carving, jewellery making, tanning hides, and fleshing and preparing skins to her latest type of art, tattooing.Jose Angutinngurniq was born at the head of an inlet after his parents returned from a walrus hunt in the area of Arviligjuaq, Nunavut. He grew up in the Natsilik region of Nunavut, around the Taloyoak area, in a community called Ittuaqturvik. Jose first heard the story of The Giant Bear from his grandfather Alakannuaq, who lived to be very old. When babies were born, the first person to hold the child became the sanaji, the one who forms the characteristics of the child.

Alakannuaq formed Jose into who he is today.