Federico Jiménez Caballero is of Indigenous Mixtec and mestizo heritage from Tututepec, a small town in coastal Oaxaca, Mexico. He came to the United States as a researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, in the late 1960s. Over the years he became a well-known and successful jewelry artist and gallery owner in Santa Monica, California. As a philanthropist, he serves on museum and nonprofit boards, and he has opened a museum in Oaxaca.

Shelby Tisdale is the director of the Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College and an award-winning author. Her book Fine Indian Jewelry of the Southwest: The Millicent Rogers Museum Collection received two awards. Her latest book, Pablita Valarde: In Her Own Words, is a full-length biography of a famous American Indian painter.