This essay is the second paper of a related three-paper set that examines, critiques, and offers responses to current conceptions of academic advising within P-20+ STEM education. In this essay, we offer a review of the current understandings of academic advising and its existing limitations with meaningfully supporting Black and Brown STEM learners. As a response to this critique, we call for a critical-ecological perspective to STEM academic advising, leveraging Phenomenological Variant Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST) as the conceptual background for this approach. We then provide a set of guiding principles for educators to consider when taking a PVEST approach to academic advising. In providing these guiding principles, we situate the third paper in the set as those authors offer specific examples for how this approach can be implemented across the P-20+ STEM spectrum.