Mark has been in the invention business for the past 17 years. |
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Mark Major an Inventor and Inspiring Entrepreneur Born and raised in the Detroit City, Michigan area, Mark was one of four children raised by a hard-working commercial artist. Growing up watching his father’s artistic abilities planted the seeds for Mark’s own creativity. During high school, Mark had a passion for his drafting classes, baseball and track. Having completed two years of drafting, the decision to become a profession draftsman would only be delayed by his passion and dream to continue playing as a baseball pitcher for as long as possible. In the summer of 1976, during the US Bicentennial year, a tragic accident ended his plans when Mark was left a quadriplegic. Once living a simple, charmed life, now each day became a struggle. Determined to go on and make a normal life, Mark finished high school with his classmates in 1979 and later graduated from Michigan State University in 1986 with a degree in telecommunications. Mark had married Jane another college student the year before that. This was all prior to the Americans with Disabilities Act and Mark was frustrated with the lack of access at a large college which he felt truly hindered the educational process to find the desired employment. In a series of publicity stunts, Mark disseminated his artwork across the campus to identify 128 access violations. All were later corrected once public support was gained. Struggling though with the cold climate and desperate to find employment, in 1987 Mark and his wife left Michigan and drove to San Jose, California. Even with his degree in telecommunications, Mark could not find work so he went back to trade school to become a certified AutoCAD Draftsman. He knew he should follow his earlier dream, since he had not lost his talent and the advent of the computer age now allowed him the ability to excel as a draftsman once again. Off government assistance from the start, Mark has worked almost twenty years as a full-time Computer Aided Designer, mostly using AutoCAD. Getting his first break at a small job shop company called TrendTec Inc.; Mark had worked on hundreds of different multidiscipline jobs giving him the edge over many in the same field. Through the years, he has worked for IBM and AMD and is currently working for NASA Ames Research Center as a contractor through AECOM. While working at AMD, finding no decent accessible gym to stay healthy, the couple rallied a volunteer group of professionals, founded and started a non-profit disabled gym called “the Physically Challenged Exercise Center” which was open at night and weekends. Running the operation for 4 years until the economy took a downturn in 2000 but even though they were forced to close, Mark gained valuable business owner experience. Again, in his spare time and obsessed with innovative ideas, Mark learned to pick up pencil once more and draw by hand again, paralysis or not and started creating and documenting each idea. He learned to draw all his patents, research and protect them. Mark and his wife both inventors, created and filed three utility patents, consumer products which are for a chopstick training device/promotional give away, a flashlight adaptor/extension cord safety plug and a dental flosser shaped like a question mark that will help promote peoples health giving them an easier alternative way to floss their teeth. The last invention was seen on the first season of ABC’s reality show the American Inventor and landed Mark in the top twenty-four contestants out of approximately 5,000 entries. He was eliminated during the top twelve pick, which would have given him $50,000 to make improve to his product to get closer to the million dollar price. Being on the show opened many doors yet working regular hours at full-time employment still interferes with Mark’s ability to find the time to license his products so he is currently in the process of starting a design firm to devote all his time to develop more new products he has on the drawing board. Finishing touches currently being done on a business plan and currently looking for funding, Mark’s hope being his own boss will be the ultimate form of independence. A clip from the show as well as information about Mark’s products can be found at www.Questionmarkflosser.com |