What kind of work do you hope to be doing in five years?

Today, the Richmond Times-Dispatch features stories focused on the future of work. We asked many people in the region to answer the question, "What kind of work do you expect to be doing in five years?"

Nathan Elkin (left) and Henry Wells are on different paths in terms of the future of their work.

Elkin, 63, doesn't expect to retire anytime soon, but he also doesn't expect to be as actively involved in Connie's Shoe Repair, a business his family has operated for three generations. Wells, on the other hand, is up to his elbows in leather every day and wouldn't have it any other way. If things go the way they expect, the 38-year-old will be the one running the business some day.

The thing that ties them together is work. They see a positive future for the shoe-repair business.

"Connie's Shoe Repair started in 1911 and I'm the third generation. I run the front and Henry runs the back. My job is to make you feel comfortable and make you feel happy. In downtown Richmond we have coat-and-tie guys who will always get leather shoes fixed," Elkin said.

"Do I see things changing? Yes! Because of the economy I see more people getting things repaired than in the past," he said.

Wells described his profession as an art. "It's not just a job, it's a bit of history. People have to have something on their feet. . . . You don't let things that are worth something go. You hold on to that knowledge. You have to," he said.-- James H. Wallace

Alfredo Alvarado has always enjoyed doing government work. For two consecutive summers, the 19-year-old Hopewell resident, a sophomore at the College of William and Mary, has worked in the Hopewell city manager's office doing policy research for the city. Five years from now, he said, he'd like to be in graduate school and working for an international organization such as the World Bank in Washington.

"In the next five years, I will be in my second year of grad school. . . . I'd probably be working, still doing internships, for different organizations. I don't know exactly what I want to do yet. Hopefully in five years, I'll have discovered the answer, and I will be building some expertise in whatever field I plan to go into."

-- Luz Lazo

. . .

"I would say my [future] most likely would be higher education or nonprofit administration -- most likely," Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said.

Kaine, 51, cannot serve a second successive term as governor. His term ends in January.

"Of all the things I've done in the nonprofit world and in elective office, the things I like most are kind of the community-building things.

"So I would see doing something in the higher education administration world or nonprofit world as really satisfying -- the community-building part of what I have enjoyed about public life."

-- Jim Nolan

. . .

Richmond resident Juanita Ragland, 66, retired from the Federal Reserve Bank after 29 years and has been at the Elegba Folklore Society for 15 years, first as a volunteer and then as administrative assistant to society founder Janine Bell.

Looking ahead, she said, "Where I see myself in five years would be to be retired, again, at home with my grandchildren and great grandchildren." -- Lindy Keast Rodman

. . .

Robert Holloman owns The Holloman Group, a consulting firm specializing in the Lean/Six Sigma business-management strategy, and a business selling sneakers with college logos.

"The kind of work I expect to be doing in five years is to continue a two-pronged attack with my businesses. The current economy has taught me that it is wise to have control over your own destiny when it comes to your career and to have more than one source of income," said Holloman, 46, of Richmond.

"I expect to be training and implementing Lean/Six Sigma process-improvement techniques to companies across the nation. There is a real need for companies to improve their processes to compete in the global marketplace. They are being forced to do more with less, and that is where Lean/Six Sigma will definitely help.

"With Kollege Kicks, I expect to have sneakers for all of the major universities nationwide. Also, I expect to have a new product line within Kollege Kicks!" -- Symea Fitts

Shalín Midence, 31, hosts the morning radio show "La Jaladita" at the Spanish-language radio station La Selecta (1320 AM) in Richmond.

She started doing radio and television in her native country of Honduras and continued doing radio when she moved to California. She started as a radio personality at La Selecta nearly six years ago.

"In five years, with the permission of our creator, God, I see me as I have been seeing me in radio and perhaps television," Midence said.

"We are trying to do . . . along with other people from South America . . . [a local TV program with] local news, national news, international news. That's our plan, and we're building up and working on it.

"As far as [the immediate future] five years, still radio. That's all I've ever done in my life. So I see me growing older and older in radio, in media in general."

-- Juan Lizama

Currently a barista at Capital Coffee and Desserts, Liz Buikema, 23, is preparing for a career in psychology. The Virginia Commonwealth University student plans to have earned a master's degree in psychology in the next five years.

"Hopefully I will be interning or working for a company that focuses on alternative healing for psychological purposes. And I hope to continue working as a barista through college because [it pays] good money and it will get me through."

-- Joe Mahoney

. . .

Howard Scott is afraid he'll find himself in the same shape in five years that he's in now -- unemployed and homeless.

"Even though I am looking for a job, there aren't any to be found," said Scott, 42.

Scott, who hails from Wilmington, Del., has lived in Richmond about 12 years. He has been homeless on and off and has done construction work and similar jobs.

Now he's sleeping on the streets and eating at food kitchens, he said. He spends a lot of time at the library, reading and trying to learn Spanish and Chinese.

Scott said that a couple of years ago he was convicted of a felony count of larceny. The case arose out of a misunderstanding between him and an employer, he maintained.

"I know everybody says they're innocent," he said, his voice trailing off.

That conviction has dimmed his job prospects.

"A good salary, somewhere to live and everything would be fine." -- Rex Springston

. . .

Chesterfield's Mark Barbee left a senior account executive job more than three years ago to pursue his passion for building things.

While his general contracting business, Sovereign Contracting Group, has been hammered by the recession, he plans to continue to do his core work: remodeling and additions.

He believes the present state of the economy might be a boon to future business.

People will probably be "staying in their homes more and probably be doing more remodeling than moving from house to house," he said. "The value of the houses has dropped off so much, they just can't afford to sell them anymore."

Barbee, 54, estimated business was down about 40 percent at the end of last year, when he was receiving maybe three calls a week. He's getting at least a dozen now.

"It has been a very, very tough year and a half," he said. "Now it's starting to come back."

-- Tim Pearrell

. . .

Matthew Wright, 20, is a junior at Liberty University. Majoring in pastoral studies, he has worked in youth ministry, interning as a summer youth pastor for the past two summers.

In five years he hopes to be doing full-time ministry -- "what that's going to look like I have no idea. I do know I'm called to do three things -- I'm called to pastor, I'm called to missions and I'm called to speak, so I'd love to speak nationally and internationally at large conferences, to venues, to churches and teach the Gospel.

"I'd love to travel -- a friend and I would like to trek through 24 different countries in a year doing back-pack evangelism.

"But this isn't about me, it's about the glory of God -- it demands everything. . . . This demands my life."

-- Nancy Guthrie

. . .

If all goes well, in five years Jody LoMenzo, 54, will be baking muffins at a bed and breakfast somewhere.

LoMenzo, who is the owner of Point of View Public Relations in Richmond, said she wants to finance that venture with her current business.

"If all goes well, I'll have a much more successful balance sheet and I'll be running the business as well as the bed and breakfast," she said.

LoMenzo started the firm in October and hopes to grow her client list as the economy improves.

A former television producer and reporter in New York before going to work in public relations, she represented several major companies in the area before branching off on her own.

-- Louis Llovio