This is the first in a three-part series about young people from Moore County who have moved to and are thriving in New York City.

BY MELANIE COUGHLIN

Special to The Pilot

Pinecrest High School -graduate Cheri Paige Fogleman is a lithe -personal trainer and dancer who models for fitness ads. Ironically, this epitome of gracefulness also stars in a show about attractive women falling down, causing a scene and, in -general, being clumsy.

"What's funnier: Bozo bumping into a clear glass door, or a well-dressed career girl in four-inch stilettos walking into a clear door while applying lipstick?" Fogleman asks, getting to the show's premise.

The show is aptly titled "Hot Mess." It tells the true stories of city girls and their mishaps, -ranging from burned-off -eyelashes in a cooking incident to a trendy woman falling face-first into a shallow pool while talking on the phone. The show airs exclusively on the -Internet at www.she samess.com.

Web-based series are a growing trend as more and more people watch television on their computers. The popular online video site Hulu not only airs network shows but is now creating original content.

Fogleman, now a resident of Harlem, did not move to New York to act. She relocated there when a dance company invited her to join them. At the time, she was a student at the North Carolina School of the Arts, where she received a -bachelor's degree in contemporary dance. Her -parents, Dean and Linda Fogleman, still live in Aberdeen.

She said the move to the city was a big adjustment.

"I suddenly realized I had no friends, and I was ridiculously poor," she says. "To make ends meet, I had to really cut back."

Fogleman shared apartments for the first few years, but -wanted her own place. The high cost of rent made it impossible until she hit upon the idea of -moving to Harlem. The neighborhood is known for its high rate of crime, but Fogleman was not deterred.

"Bad people can go anywhere. Rapes and murders can happen anywhere," she says.

She is a minority in her neighborhood, and at one point was the only white woman in a building of more than 70 apartments.

"My building is filled with -families just doing the best they can, just like me," she says. "Everybody's doing their laundry and getting their mail and trying to sleep safely."

Fogleman wakes at 4:30 a.m. and commutes 45 minutes by -subway to her job as a personal trainer and group fitness instructor in Manhattan. She works there until lunchtime and then goes to rehearsals and -auditions. She hopes to -transition to full-time acting.

"Lots of opportunities have come along for being a trainer for a fitness reality show or hosting a fitness show or speaking at conferences," she says, "but I'd like to be a working actress.

"It's happening, but it's a slow process. It's years and years of grueling work before (becoming) an 'overnight' success."

Her work on "Hot Mess" is giving her the experience she needs to succeed in -acting. She met the show's creator, Amy Kersten, when the two worked at the same gym. Kersten wanted to be in better shape, and Fogleman wanted to learn to act. The two began teaching one another in their respective areas of expertise, and a friendship was born.

Kersten told Fogleman about the Web series she was starting. It was an enterprise she could afford because of, in true "Hot Mess" form, a settlement she received from a -television falling on her head.

Fogleman came to the set on the first day of filming to show support for her friend.

"I said, 'I'm just here in case you want me to get -coffee for you,'" Fogleman says. "I ended up directing it and doing set design."

Kersten asked Fogleman to come back for the next filming and, eventually, to be in an episode. Now Fogleman is a regular in the show as well as co-owner of Mess Productions, the -production company that creates the show.

All the shows are based on real-life events and often fall into the "truth is stranger than fiction" category. In an episode in season two, a young woman befriends her mugger and then thanks him profusely for allowing her to keep her couture purse.

The shows are short; most episodes are only five minutes. It is just enough time, Fogleman says, for someone to take a break from work and get a laugh.

Fogleman and Kersten are always seeking new true stories of humorous disasters. They now have a hotline for people to record their "hot messes," and Fogleman would like to hear from women in the Sandhills. She invites people to call the HotMess hotline at (212) 937-8981, extension 7.

Melanie Coughlin is a freelance writer from Pinehurst.