By Managing Editor Kara Apel, Alumna of the University of South Carolina

University Chic is excited to host our next Twitter chat with Laura Petrecca, small business, personal finance and workplace reporter for USA Today on Tuesday, Jan. 31 at 9 p.m. ET.

Follow @UniversityChic and use the #UChic hashtag to participate.

Have questions for Laura? Tweet them at us ahead of time or comment on this blog post! We hope to see you there!

Here's more information about Laura:

Laura Petrecca is a reporter in USA TODAY’s New York bureau. During her nearly two decades of editorial experience, she has covered a wide array of topics including small business, personal finance, health, workplace issues and consumer behavior.

Laura began her journalism career at USA TODAY in 1993 as an editorial assistant. In 1996, she left for a reporting job at Advertising Age, where she was later promoted to deputy bureau chief/senior editor. She moved to the health magazine Prevention in 2002 as senior editor. Two years later, she joined the New York Post as a Sunday business reporter/columnist and was later named editor of the Sunday business section.

She rejoined USA TODAY in 2005. In addition to writing and editing articles at USA Today, she tweets out news, posts blog items and shoots video and photos. She also represents the paper on TV programs such as Good Morning America, the Today show, CNN and ESPN.

Last spring, Laura completed a multimedia fellowship at the University of California Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.  In addition, she was one of 10  journalists selected for the Knight-Bagehot fellowship at Columbia University for 2001-2002.

Laura has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Maryland. She also has a master's degree in journalism and a certificate in business and economics from Columbia University.