Phyllis Lysionek grew up in Dublin, Ireland. Her story telling abilities come from growing up in a family of seven children where story telling was a way of life. At seventeen she left Ireland to travel, spending the next ten years living in Germany, Israel, Holland, England and South Wales. In South Wales she studied art at the Mid-Glamorgan college of art & design. She immigrated to Canada in 1994 and settled in Sooke. In 1997 her son Kyle was born. Kyle was born with Down

syndrome and has numerous associated medical conditions.
For the first five years Kyle's life was filled with regular medical monitoring, invasive
testing and surgical procedures. Having a child who has undergone many medical interventions since birth, Phyllis found the lack of information at a preverbal child's level very frustrating. She searched for children's books that would prepare Kyle for specific procedures. Discovering a gap in this area Phyllis decided to write her own stories and has created unique dolls that live a
valley called Dollyloop. Dollyloop Smiles. Her experiences over the past eight years have prompted the creation of Dolly loop Smiles and the first book in the OIly Tilly series.