Ariel Tweto “popping bubbles” in western Nunavut

Ariel Tweto receives a warm welcome and handmade pair of mitts from residents of Taloyoak Sept. 21. The Inupiaq TV star and motivational speaker is touring the Kitikmeot region this month. (PHOTO COURTESY OF POPPING BUBBLES)

The people of Taloyoak may have met Ariel Tweto only a couple of days ago, but she’s become a fast friend to the people in that Kitikmeot community.

The Inupiaq reality TV star, who starred in Discovery Channel’s Flying Wild Alaska, embarked on her second visit to Nunavut Sept. 18.

As part of her Popping Bubbles tour, Tweto is touring the Kitikmeot with her motivational message for Nunavummiut: set goals and enjoy life.

Tweto arrived in Taloyoak Sept. 21 to a crowd bearing big, hand-drawn welcome posters.

Since then, the bubbly 26-year-old has been inside Netsilik school to talk to students about suicide prevention. She visited community organizations, spoke on the radio and attended a community feast where she showed off her Alaskan style of square dancing.

All along, Tweto said she’s helping people “pop bubbles,” an expression she uses for breaking down barriers and tackling the personal challenges people face.

“It just came out when I was talking one day, about how we all live in our bubbles,” Tweto said. “Never leaving the community, hanging out with the same people, doing the same things.

“I just want to go around and pop everyone’s bubbles.”

And part of that is encouraging Nunavummiut to open up and talk about suicide — the pain of losing people to it and grappling with the thought that it could be the answer to life’s problems.

“So many people are opening up to talk about their family members and other people who have committed suicide,” Tweto said.

During a community radio call-in show in Taloyoak this week, a local woman called in to speak to Tweto.

The mother of four had lost a brother and her father to suicide, and had herself considered it.

“She asked me to come over to her place,” Tweto said. “So we had a coffee, talked about our shared losses and had some tears and laughs.

“She had lost hope — she couldn’t find a reason to get up in the morning,” she said.

“She just didn’t realize that she could be setting goals for herself. We talked about what makes her happy — she said sewing and hunting. I just wanted her to get excited about life and what’s she’s good at.”

Later the same day, Tweto said she visited the home of a 23-year-old man who’s become a hermit in his home since his grandfather died a few years ago. The two took an ATV ride around the community.

“Those are the kind of moments where I think: if the tour ended today, I would be satisfied,” Tweto said.

But Tweto will take Popping Bubbles to Cambridge Bay Sept. 24, and finish her Kitikmeot tour in Kugluktuk Sept. 28.

In the meantime, she’s had lots of other invites to visit other Nunavut communities.

“If a town invites me, I would love to come,” said Tweto, whose current tour has been funded by First Air, the Kitikmeot Inuit Association and Sabina Gold and Silver Corp.

Tweto, who was raised in Unalakleet, Alaska, is now based in California, where she continues to work in film and television.

You can read more about the Popping Bubbles tour here.