Holly Vollor is the founder of The Mississippi Merchant. A proud Vicksburg native, she designed her first T-shirt when she was 10 years old, and her original creations have been worn around town ever since. Holly earned a degree in graphic design at Ole Miss, and her first job was, of course, designing T-shirts at University Sporting Goods in Oxford. After getting married and starting a family, she lived a few different places outside Mississippi pursuing graphic design by creating business logos and doing branding work for local, regional, national and even international businesses. Since she moved back to Mississippi, she worked as the creative director at Invitation Magazines, a community magazine based in Oxford. In 2023, she took her kids to see the Old Court House Museum and Coca-Cola Museum. The boats were in, and the town was flooded with visitors. Holly saw a need right away for quality, classic souvenirs that people could purchase to take home to remember their visit to Vicksburg and promote it around the state and beyond. It was then that The Mississippi Merchant was born. She is proud to be the purveyor of artistic, design-focused original products that reflect the place she loves.

Holly and Ellen's mom, Martha Whitaker, creates the watercolors for The Mississippi Merchant. Martha is from Vicksburg and has lived there most all her life. She is well known around town for her creativity, from party planning and organizing charity events to painting ornaments and decorating hand-blown eggs. She recognized Holly’s creative talent from a young age and encouraged her to pursue a career in graphic design, and more recently to start The Mississippi Merchant. Up until then, Martha had only dabbled in watercolors. When Holly saw the need for original watercolors to be used on product, she asked her to try to paint something. To her own amazement, Martha started pushing out beautiful watercolors which are cherished by all. She is thrilled to be working with her daughter to promote her beloved hometown and state.