Elijah Shaw: Being A World Class Protector, Success & Finding Time To Capturing The Moment

If you had the opportunity to step into a lifestyle of a rich and famous pop star, who would be among the first you would hire on your team? Pretty sure it wouldn't be a personal lent roller. In the forefront we see and glorify the talent, but in reality the individuals behind the scenes make their entire operation work. The average person tends to overlook the team of individuals that travel with celebrities, who really are just as, if not more important that the celeb themselves. Those individuals shouldn't go unnoticed but, many times they become a blur to an exhilarated fan or an anxious photographer; which could potentially prompt a safety hazard. Well, Elijah Shaw is one of those individuals you'd want on your team.

Known primarily for protecting the stars, Elijah Shaw can be spotted moving very closely alongside his clients. He's protected the likes of some of the top entertainers such as Usher, Chaka Khan, Naomi Campbell, 50 Cent, Kelly Rowland and Kim Kardashian to name a few. You've probably seen Shaw bodyguarding for many years and never connected him to each of his clients. You may have seen him walk across the stage at a concert before the artist comes out or on the side of the stage wings looking onto the audience. Shaw's been caught in numerous paparazzi and fan photos escorting his clients from point A to point B. Better yet, you've definitely seen him in Usher's "Confession" video! Being a security personnel to some of your favorite acts isn't the only sector of Elijah's job description. He services executive protection for political conventions, award shows and major corporate companies.

Falling into his career was no mistake, yet more of a coincidence. Making it out of the inner city projects of Chicago, Shaw attended film school where he discovered a love for the protective services while working to pay for school.He describes his beginning in the security world as a mail room person who worked his way up the ladder. He worked for several companies before being told his ambitions were bigger than the last company he was employed by and should start his own business. Fast forward to 1998, his company ICON Global was born. ICON Global specializes in high level international protection, investigative and consultation services to public figures and corporate clients. "My biggest accomplishment is beating the odds. taking an idea, turning it into a reality and continue to live my dream."

Elijah defies the common misconceptions of a typical "bodyguard;" super huge, mean, always serious and uses force before strategy when handling clients around groups of people. He may not do a bunch of talking, but if you ever meet Elijah he's actually a very kind, well-mannered individual (he may even crack a smile too).When on the field, being keen, proactive, protective, accurate as well as have the ability to calm frenzied fans are essential qualities he possesses. To make traveling internationally with his clients easier, he is a part of the Overseas Security Advisory Council, which allows him to receive advisories for crisis going on around the world prior to landing on grounds.

Needless to say, he's done pretty well for himself for an individual  who doesn't come from a police or military background such as many of his colleagues. Shaw has discovered over the years ways in which he could expand his business and make himself unique. ICON Global doesn't solely provide services to just high profile clients, but to those interested/working in the protective services seeking to sharpen their skills. Shaw hosts boot camp-like training courses and conferences to individuals from all over that travel to learn and train with his company.

"My goal was to build my company as big as I could get it, maybe I could sell it and retire on a yacht somewhere in the south of France. I realized I was only chasing the dollar a few years ago. I asked myself 'what am I doing?' I was loosing track of why I was doing what I was doing and started the business. It was because I liked it. After I had this reservation, I had to shrink things down and get back to the point where I'm happy. Some of that was me actually doing the work so I wouldn't remain behind a desk and stay contemporary."

In 2006, he created the ISC Safety Net. The ISC Safety Net works through women's shelters to provide security/escort services for victims of domestic abuse. Shaw and his team volunteer their services to women needing to revisit a home or attend court in the presence of their batterer. Through his work with the ISC Safety Net, he served five years on the board of directors for the Women's Advocates. In addition to his extensive resume, Shaw co-produces "Circuit Magazine" with his colleagues in the UK. Circuit is one of the only magazines geared to the protective services industry and includes a monthly column from Elijah Shaw himself entitled "Keeping Your Edge."

One can only imagine with the work life of Shaw, living on the road most of the year and working on other's time comes with some hard sacrifices. For over 20 years, Shaw has maintained a career that is a dream come true to him, but just with any dream, comes with some type of consequences. It takes a very selfless individual to enjoy serving and tending to others day in and day out. The biggest cost anyone pays when they're dedicated to their career is a loss of time with the people they love.

"The biggest sacrifice I've made is the loss of time I had with my son growing up. Right now I spend over 75% of the year on the road and over 50% of that overseas. My son is 21 now, and ever since he's been born this is the only thing he's known...I try to maximize the time I have at home with him. I would try to make the games or the school activities he would participate in. Its tough to be in a third world country on the internet and trying to get your son to do his math homework right. It can be tough being away from your family for both you and them."

The high demands of working in this industry can become extremely overwhelming when you're always on a client's time and they're used to having you around. As a personal bodyguard, you're sometimes the first person your clients sees at the start of a day on the road and the last one they see at night. The lines of seeing you as a right hand man and as a protector can get blurred, as it would seem natural that one can get too attached over time. During times when Shaw is having a day off or working with other clients, he makes sure he prepares each of his clients to take care of themselves in the absence of his presence.

"I don't think there's a such thing as a client relying on you too much in terms of security. We're with these people more than anyone in their circle; more than their spouse, manager or personal assistant. Sometimes they have a tendency to ask for things that go above and beyond what your job description is, sometimes depending on the individual they can abuse that. I think if you can nip that in a bud early, they understand you're a professional and what you do. Anything beyond that limits the odds of success if something goes wrong and preventing that. I think they understand it.

I don't go and beat up people or jump in front of bullets all day long. A big part of what I do is preventive measures. I implement a process to keep the client safe. For instance, just small things that they normally don't think about. I may have a client that has a fancy car and I tell them 'hey, make sure when you're pulling into your driveway you do a couple laps around the neighborhood before so, someone who's following you doesn't see where you live. If they're going to a restaurant where they should sit, or to the doctors office coming in the back. I'm with some of my clients quite a bit of time and I have other clients that I don't see as frequent."

In an ever so fast paced environment, it's also easy to miss beautiful moments when you're working 20 plus hours a day, in different places. Shaw realizes sometimes he has to hit the pause button, find time for himself and capture the moment. His photo blog "Life Up There" is a compilation of photos he's captured over the years traveling the world. Although he refers to himself as an amateur photographer, he snaps some pretty amazing shots! "Life Up There" is also a reminder of how far Shaw has come from his upbringing in Chicago and a way he can hopefully help someone create a better life. Coming to the realization that hitting the pause button sometimes and seeing the beautiful things in life helps keep Shaw sane.

"I've had an opportunity to see the world several times over and it's been pretty amazing. Because I'm so focused on work a lot of times, I go into a place and I miss all of the beautiful things that are in that environment. In the last couple of years I've tried to intentionally see the things the world has to offer, whether that means going there ahead of time or getting up at 5am when I should probably be getting up at 7am. I've gone out and started doing photography work, just to make sure I capture the moment. I had to find someway to tie it back. If people are interested in purchasing these photos, I've been taking the proceeds and buying cameras for kids in the hood. My thought process is 'maybe they'll take photos and find a creative outlet for themselves.

I like what I do. Its an exciting career. I try to remember all the time how blessed I am to be doing what I am. There's people that work a job that can't stand going to work everyday. Of course, I have bad days and tough days but, I think the thing that motivates me is 'look where you came from.' Then I find outlets. I workout a lot. I go in the gym and I get my frustrations out and I take photographs. I'm an amateur photographer, but it's been great learning the process myself figuring out what works, what I like, what other people like and editing the photos. That's some of the cool stuff I like. Whenever I get some free time I crack open my laptop and look at photos I've taken before and edit those.

"2015 has been an interesting year for me. The last couple of years, but particularly this year, I've been more accurately doing the work and this has been one of my biggest years on record. One of my clients embarked on this very successful world tour. Just taking a look at the stats of it, by the end of this tour which lasted about eight months, we traveled the world; the tour sold just shy of 600,000 tickets and grossed over $20million. The security aspect of that is there are so many challenges that comes with the tour and all of these moving parts. I'm not just responsible for protecting the client, the individual, but I'm also responsible for the safety of the fans that are coming, the invited guest, the crew. There's all of these massive responsibilities. Knock on wood, all went well! That wrapped about a month ago so I'm kind've recharging my batteries right now.

What gives me the courage to conquer fear is self determination. I'm not supposed to be where I am right now. When I decided to choose this career and take it as far as it goes, I knew that I was going to be up against some pretty tough obstacles and be in some pretty scary situations. I knew this was what I wanted to do. I didn't want to get by doing this, I wanted to be very successful. I have someone's life, someone's brand in my hands I have to treat that with the importance that its due."

View Elijah's blog- "Life Up There"
Learn more about ICON Global here

(Photos: Instagram/DWayne Franklin/FARRINHEIT 411)