Melbourne brothers Adam and Travis Garone co-founded Movember in a Fitzroy bar 20 years ago. The ‘Mo Bro’ movement now raises $100 million a year for men’s health and made a difference to the wellbeing – and facial hair – of men across the globe.
It’s 4pm on a cloudless autumn afternoon and Movember co-founder Adam Garone is sitting on the balcony of his Topanga Canyon home. The sun is low in the Southern California sky casting a warm glow over the bucolic Santa Monica mountains, reminiscent of the Warrandyte, Victorian bushland where Garone grew up.
The 51-year-old is wearing a red t-shirt, Movember cap, and the beginnings of an impressive moustache.
“Movember is sometimes called the laziest charity event in the world because you’re basically sitting back waiting for your moustache to grow,” Garone says with a smile, on the 9th day of his 2024 ‘stache crusade.
The movement the Garone brothers started is now celebrated in 20 countries, has raised $1.5 billion for men’s health causes funding 1,320 causes. It’s the leading charity changing the face of men’s health globally, according to the organisation, and targets mental health, suicide prevention, prostate cancer and testicular cancer.
“It became this perfect word-of-mouth campaign because your moustache is on your face, and everyone asks about it,” says Garone.
The first Movember took place 12,700 kilometres away from where Garone now lives, in the social entrepreneur’s hometown of Melbourne. It was conceived to celebrate his younger brother’s November birthday.
“My brother and Luke, another good mate and also a founder of Movember, had this random conversation over beers around bringing the moustache back in 2003. They came up with the idea to have a moustache-themed birthday party for Travis’,” says Garone. That party was held on Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, and the winner of the ‘best mo’ that night won a prize.
The next year, Movember expanded from a group of friends in Melbourne to both Sydney and Brisbane.
“In 2004 there were 450 of us, and we raised $54,000,” says Garone. “That set us off on this trajectory to grow. Movember went viral before viral was even a term in that sense. At the time I was working at Vodafone and growing a moustache was sort of outrageous.”
That outrage and the physicality of the challenge was the perfect recipe to attract attention to the initiative.
“My boss was like, what the heck are you doing? So after that first year, I said to Luke and Trav, let’s put this toward a cause. Let’s formalise the whole thing because in my mind, it’s no different to doing a 10k run. It’s a commitment to do something,” he added.
The movement goes global and mo’s grow for a cause
By November 2006, Garone had formalised the non-profit in Australia and was growing the movement in New Zealand. The funds raised from the ‘laziest charity event’ was initially dedicated to raising awareness and finding solutions for a common cancer that targets men.
“We focused on prostate cancer as the initial cause, because it was the equivalent of breast cancer, but there was no awareness for prostate cancer. The moustache became a ‘hairy ribbon’ in a similar way to the breast cancer movement that had the pink ribbon,” says Garone. “We got some news coverage and it sort of grew exponentially each year.”
As the movement gained traction another form of cancer specific to men was incorporated.
“We added testicular cancer early on because prostate and testicular cancers are the only two male-only cancers,” says Garone. He had a DJ friend who had testicular cancer and felt there was a need to create awareness and a supportive community around the disease.
“It’s the most common for young men. He said, ‘hey, there’s no foundation for testicular cancer’. He was a survivor. And so we added testicular cancer to Movember cause.”
In cheeky Australian fashion, the conversation around heavy issues like cancer is presented with a bit of banter and lightness. Information on testicular cancer can be found on a page called ‘Know Thy Nuts.’ A picture of a swinging pear accompanies a heading asking ‘How’s Your Pair Hanging?’ Tools to tackle testicular cancer is featured on a page headlined with ‘Nuts and Bolts.’
In 2007 Garone moved to California to build the movement Stateside. At the same time, Movember branched out into addressing men’s mental health concerns in Australia and New Zealand.
“We have been focused on that since 2007. Now in 2024, there are so many celebrities and athletes that have started talking about mental health and their struggles. Organisations are now embracing mental health as the equivalent of physical health, so there’s been a huge shift in talking about it.”
That legacy is something Garone and his three co-founders take pride in.
“It remains a passion of mine because we’ve had an amazing impact on prostate and testicular cancer in terms of survival rates and quality of life outcomes. That’s one of Movember’s true legacies. Now on the mental health and suicide prevention side, we’re funding some really great innovative programs,” says Garone.
The 20-year journey of service
Today, Garone is a dual US and Australian citizen and is CEO of the Starlight Children’s Foundation in the US. He was recently named LA Business Journal’s executive of the year.
He stepped down as Movember’s CEO in 2016 but continues to advocate for the organisation and ‘grow a mo for a cause’ each year. The organisation he founded raises $100 million annually and has attracted 6 million participants over the last two decades.
Reflecting on his journey, Garone says the underlying theme is service.
“There’s a through line in my career, which is 10 years in the military, a few years in corporate and 14 years, I guess, in Movember and consulting in the men’s health space,” says Garone.
His work with the Starlight Foundation in the US aims to ease the burden for sick children and their families.
“We work to improve the mental wellness of kids and families in hospital as they’re navigating a serious injury or illness. So we have gaming programs, virtual reality, we’ve got hospital gowns for kids with Disney characters on them. We deliver toys and books and games and stuff into hospitals all across the country,” says Garone.
When the cause turns personal
This year, Garone’s commitment to prostate cancer and men’s health issues took a personal turn.
“In the space of two days, I was told I had two different types of cancer. One definite, one likely,” says Garone.
On July 3, the day before the US Independence Day public holiday, Garone had an annual physical and a skin check.
“I had a mole on my arm that was looking odd and changing shape. The doctor took a scrape and then noticed something on my foot. A week later I was in the car with my son and the dermatology office called and said both were melanoma and the one on my foot was a rare form of skin cancer, aggressive and potentially deadly,” says Garone.
The bad news kept coming.
“Two days later, my GP called and said, hey your prostate-specific antigen, a unique blood test indicator for prostate cancer, is 6.1 which is a normal PSA score for an 80-year-old man,” says Garone.
“The last time I did it, it was less than one. The doctor said if it has gone from less than one to 6.1, it’s likely that you’ve got prostate cancer.”
Adam Garone
Garone was sent for a specialised MRI to visually confirm prostate cancer. It was a three-week wait until he could be scheduled for the procedure.
“The MRI thankfully came back clear, but they’re still perplexed why my PSA is so high. I was told it could be the prostate cancer was caught early so it’s not showing up in the image. It could also be because the prostate cancer is swollen or inflamed, but the doctor said that didn’t look to be the case,” says Garone.
The CEO is now in active surveillance for prostate cancer and needs to have his PSA checked every 6 months.
“If I had skipped my annual physical, I’d be none the wiser. I feel really fit and healthy – but the point is proactively going to see a doctor. The key with any type of cancer is catching it early, because then treatment options are widely available,” says Garone.
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