When Shawna Lake started Deep End Talent Strategies this past January she set out with the mission to support small businesses, startups, and nonprofits with their Human Resource operations. As the world continues to socially distance, Deep End Talent Strategies adapts to support its clients in a number of areas. Deep End specializes in HR operations ranging from administrative tasks to strategy, recruiting, and employee development.

After graduating from Ball State with undergraduate degrees in Management and Communication, Shawna began her career in Human Resources with a logistics company in Indianapolis. She specialized in training and recruiting r before she took another opportunity with an advertising agency.

Wanting to avoid being cornered to just one aspect of Human Resources, Shawna operated as a truegeneralist for six years with the company, overseeing all aspects of HR. During that time she was a part of several mergers and acquisitions, including in her personal life. She married her husband Chris whom she met in college and the couple started a family. Following this chapter, Shawna and her family moved to Zionsville and she began working in the nonprofit sector where she worked for the next 13 years of her career.

During this time she worked with the Indianapolis Zoo, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and MISO Energy. With each, she managed a number of large Human Resource operations. These ranged from creating and implementing onboarding and recruiting procedures to managing teams across a number of states with MISO Energy.

These experiences further enforced what she already believed to be true of HR, “Human Resources is a business partner for the company’s leadership and owners.” This sentiment is what drove Shawna to start Deep End Talent Strategies.

Human Resources requires a lot of attention and has a significant impact on a business. For small businesses and startups, many may not have the time, knowledge, or understanding to ensure their Human Resource operations are supporting their company and not hindering it. Deep End Talent Strategies (DETS) operates as an “Outsourced HR Director.”

Shawna assists her clients in understanding what HR operations they need to implement and how it needs to be enacted to ensure success. Oftentimes, employee employer relationship management can be difficult in small businesses and startups.

Understanding how to properly manage those situations is essential in growing a small business. DETS is able to assist its clients in the strategic thinking that needs to go into meeting your business needs.

When Shawna started DETS last January, like the rest of us, she did not predict the situation the world would be facing now. As she has adapted, she has been able to continue to support her clients in their strategic business planning and daily HR activities. DETS has also been a resource, providing guidance for its clients and other small businesses on how to handle employee relations during this time as well as assisting its clients in understanding and managing HR aspects of the Payment Protection Program and FFCRA (Families First Coronovirus Response Act)..

DETS offers a number of resources on its website, providing guidance and advice for small businesses during the COVID-19 crisis.

Getting to know Shawna on a more personal level…

• After a June trip, Shawna will have been to 49 states in the US and 5 Provinces in Canada. By the time she is 50 she wants to have visited all 50 states and all 10 Canadian provinces.
• Shawna comes from a large family. She grew up with 5 brothers and 2 sisters.
• Shawna’s family is a soccer family with her two children being on as many as five soccer teams between them at certain times of the year.