In December of 2021, Catherine & Dani visited Dani's family's hometown of Villa Vasquez, Dominican Republic. Upon conversation with Dani's grandma, Irene "Marito" Polanco, they were inspired to tell her story about love and education and called it "The Grandma Project". While researching and thinking about how to tell this story, they discussed the similarities between their families, especially their shared conviction that education fosters home and community. With this in mind, their project expanded, and they decided to tell a much bigger story of family, immigration, education, community, and love. Diasporic Intimacies as a collective began with that story.