Mery and Digna are best friends who decided to leave their home country and respective communities in Colombia in search of educational opportunities in the Global North. In Vancouver, Mery encountered a reality completely different from the multiculturalism that had been the image of Canada. In her quotidian life, she came to personally understand how Black, Indigenous and migrant communities experience cycles of systematic racism. Furthermore, Mery witnessed how critiques of systemic oppressions were unwelcome among some social circles she entered and educational institutions she frequented. While living in Washington, D.C., United States, Digna began to recognize similar foundational forms of marginalization and exclusion from her experiences in Colombia’s Pacific Coast. Along her academic journey at Howard University, she learned about Black identity formations in the United States, including her own as an immigrant. From this experience, she began to understand her Black Colombian womanhood and identity from a new perspective. For both women, they came to understand the feeling of being at home while living abroad. Additionally, they found meaningful friendships with other women and Black women who could fully embrace and welcome them. Their individual paths as Afro-ColombianAfro-Colombian immigrants in North America, engaging in academicAcademic pursuits, echo broader narratives encompassing resilience in the face of systemic racismRacism and discrimination. Furthermore, as their respective host countries are often viewed as bastions of multiculturalism and inclusivity, the unique challenges they have experienced highlight that racial issues run deeper than what meets the eye in academicAcademic and societal spheres.