The US media abounds with unkind rhetoric brought on by cascading systemic inequities. Many in higher education are calling for scholars to use their collective voice and take action to address these inequities. As critical scholars with a unified social justice lens, we contend that crossing boundaries to collaborate is crucial to addressing the growing social and educational inequities experienced by students and families in underserved communities. In this qualitative paper, we employ scholarly personal narrative to explore how collaborating across research paradigms and cultural differences has broadened our perspectives, advanced our pedagogy, transformed our research, enhanced our practice, and brought joy to our professional lives