In this presentation, I will explore how "Esperancita’s Mostly True Memoir" bridges creative practice, academic research, and pedagogy. I will demonstrate how visual storytelling can engage students in nuanced conversations about migration, identity, and memory, while fostering empathy and self-expression. The project offers a model for research and art-making as a socially engaged and personally transformative act. I’ll reflect on how storytelling through illustration can be used to surface lived experience, foster empathy, and create space for culturally responsive dialogue. For me, this work isn’t just a book; it’s a love letter to Colombia, the home we were forced to leave, and a gift I didn’t know I needed: a way back to myself.