Etta Endito grew up in Crownpoint, New Mexico. She gradually learned how to work with silver by assisting her mother after school. By the time she was 15, she was smithing part-time on her own as well. At age 18, she inaugurated her career as a full-time silversmith. After graduating from the Technical and Vocational Institute in Albuquerque in 1986, she began creating her own designs. Now she and her husband, Randy, and her sons work as a team to create elegant, contemporary, well-crafted designs. Randy helps her with heavy design stamping, shaping, and buffing. Her two older boys, although young, are contributing their artistic talents in design. Etta uses her total environment to stimulate design ideas for her jewelry.