I'm Jeff Main. I grew up in Redmond, a small town in central Oregon, with my two brothers and sister. My parents gave us freedom to express ourselves, which meant I got to paint murals on my bedroom walls one summer and won first place in the state for novice duo acting in high school (the trophy's probably still at Redmond High).

At 16, I joined a band called Toxic. We got good enough to record a demo and decided to move to Portland to make it big. My dad lived there, so I moved in with him. The band fizzled, but I graduated high school six months early—seven days after my 18th birthday.

Two weeks later I started grinding metal parts at a manufacturing company. The pay was okay and I kind of liked it because it felt like sculpting. I moved around the shop learning everything: sandblasting, painting, machining, welding. I'd come up with better tools and methods, and a lot of times my small inventions worked better than the conventional way.

After 10 years, the company had a big layoff. They wanted to keep me, but I watched a friend in his 50s lose his job and had an epiphany: you can always lose your job, but you can never lose your education. I used the NAFTA program to go to Clackamas Community College and study drafting and mechanical design. Turned out I could sculpt in 3D space and make things from my prints.

I didn't graduate—the NAFTA grant ran out and I had only nine credits left. A recruiter named Elisabeth Lions got me my first engineering job in Washington at a company making aftermarket accessories for trucks and RVs. I introduced them to SolidWorks, and we designed a stop-turn tail light that I got to put my name on as inventor (patent USD545981S1). It went on NASCAR trailers first, including the trailer for the Lowes' #48 car, right there in the parking lot. I still see that tail light on trailers 20 years later. So yeah, I brag a little. Okay, more than a little.

Next I worked on emergency medical equipment for helicopters—the AW139 specifically. One of my better designs was a cowling and bird strike plate for a liquid oxygen tank. Weight restrictions meant I had to design a plate that could withstand 30,000 psi from a bird strike without being too heavy. I failed every conventional approach. Then I figured it out: angle the plate so the force deflects instead of impacts directly. It worked.

I moved back to Portland in 2010 and bounced around a few companies. In 2025, after 11 years at one place, I got laid off again due to lack of work. Another epiphany: even with an education, I can always lose my job. So I thought, if I can design products that sell for other companies, why not make them under my own name and depend on myself?

That's where I am today with Dirty Girl Organics and DGO Products. I've designed what I think is the best organic container growing system out there. It addresses the problems other growers have and grows plants faster using natural methods like air flow and capillary attraction. It's modular so you can add or remove plants as needed, and it flushes soil quickly to break down salt and chemical buildup.

I also designed the Super Cropper, which non-invasively bends branches to redirect plant hormones and create more fruiting shoots. And the Smoke Screen, a device that masks smoke odor—or works as a personal air freshener.

In the end, I want to help people with the products I develop. Make life a little easier. And maybe get to a place where I can create beautiful, bountiful community gardens so no child ever has to go to bed hungry.