Leokadia Makarska-Čermák or Lily Čermák (in Czech: Leokadia Čermáková), known in the US for painting US Senator Charles Schumer, New York City Mayors Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg, was born in Polanica-Zdrój, Poland. She received a merit-based full scholarship from the Ministry of Culture that allowed her to study the five-year program in interior design and wood technologies at the Technical University in Zvolen, Czechoslovakia (today in Slovakia). After graduation, Leokadia married Jiří Čermák and moved to Ostrov a town not far from Karlovy Vary. She worked in Karlovy Vary first as an interior and furniture designer and later, as a teacher at a technical high school.