It’s a typical summer day in New York City for most. A taxi pulls up to the corner of 8th Avenue and West 57th Street, occupied by three nervous interns anxious to jump into their new job. Na?ve? Probably. But who can blame them? It’s their first day, and for one intern, Samantha, it is her first time in New York City.

Stepping out of the yellow taxi, an intern’s face brightens in amazement, and she can’t help herself from saying, “Oh my God, look how high it is.” That high “it” is the blue-hued glass Hearst Tower, where cameras are fixated on these three girls daily, documenting the stressful lives of a Marie Claire intern.

“Running in Heels” — an eight-part reality series following the professional and private lives of Samantha DeZur, Talita Silva and Ashley Gosik — is the brainchild of the Style Network. A fusion of an informative documentary and the tears and gossip of reality TV, “Running in Heels” makes sure every drop of juicy drama is bottled and manufactured for girls who would kill to work for Marie Claire — or at least seriously consider it.

Zoe Glassner, Marie Claire’s senior shopping editor, guides the interns to a corner where a communal desk overlooking Central Park awaits them. As the interns take a seat, she skips the cordial encouragement: “So welcome, and I just want to sort of give you my words of wisdom — a big one for me is no speaking unless spoken to. These (editors) are people who are paid for their opinion, your opinion is not valuable to them unless they’ve solicited it.”

Jealousy is surprisingly blatant, and the competition is cut-throat for better assignments. Talita is sent backstage for Fashion Week; Samantha is assigned to work with Joanna Cole, editor-in-chief of Marie Claire, and Nina Garcia (“Project Runway”), fashion director, while Ashley feels self-entitled to work with the higher-ups rather than with Zoe in the fashion department. Ashley acerbically retorts, “I just don’t understand why there is such preferential treatment,” the first hit to the frenemy relationships among the interns.

Jockeying for lasting impressions, the interns live under the same roof in a posh, single bedroom loft located at the heart of Soho, one of New York City’s frequented shopping districts. According to intern Samantha DeZur, a University of Wisconsin student, disputes between the three of them were inevitable.

“Talita is from L.A., and Ashley is from Florida. We come from different backgrounds, we have very different personalities and they clashed all the time. The added stress of the cameras constantly — every waking minute on us, coupled with our different personalities — we were bound to be on each other’s throat constantly,” DeZur said.

Reality television being as it is, producers frame personalities in the fashion they see promotes the brand they sell. Entertainment is the key word whether or not certain characterizations are objectionable. In “Running in Heels,” DeZur is portrayed as a clueless, small-town girl from rustic Wisconsin — the clich? black sheep unfit and unbecoming of the urban lifestyle.

Sitting down in Starbucks with DeZur, a senior Spanish and communications major, she doesn’t strike one to be the type hailing from Oshkosh, Wis. When asked about the misconception, DeZur seemed frustrated.

“I don’t think I am the ‘small-town girl,'” DeZur said. “But I guess in comparison to everyone in New York City, that’s how I seem, or maybe that’s the character they picked out for me, or that’s how I seemed when I was there.”

She appeared no different from any other sartorial New York City girl, adoring Marc Jacobs, fiddling with her Blackberry, layered head to toe in this season’s trend — black — and toting Marie Claire in an accordingly accessorized charcoal hobo.

Going from the role of daughter to outdoorsy parents to a chic position at one of the most recognizable fashion magazines seems like a stretch. DeZur, however, doesn’t think much of it.

“I’ve always been interested in [fashion] — I’ve always been interested in it ever since I was a little girl, but I wasn’t really exposed to it,” DeZur said. “When I came to Madison, I learned a little bit more (about fashion) because Madison is a little bit more diverse, a little more fashionable than Oshkosh. And add that to my interests and communications major, it just kind of stemmed from there.”

Trumping thousands of candidates for a position at Marie Claire is nearly impossible enough; she must have done something right.

“I worked really hard to get that internship — I’ve worked hard in school, I’ve worked hard my whole life — and it’s a really big deal for me to have gotten it, and I think I have appreciated it every step of the way,” DeZur said.

But, as though State Street’s Starbucks was just another set for “Running in Heels,” grudges haven’t fizzled.

“Talita and Ashley complained a lot about the little assignments they were given,” DeZur said. “I was just so happy to be standing in a room with Joanna Cole and Nina Garcia that I didn’t care what I had to do.”

Because 80 percent of what goes on in front of the cameras doesn’t get aired, check out Samantha and her fellow intern’s episode-by-episode blog on www.mystyle.com or catch “Running in Heels” on Sundays at 7 p.m. on the Style Network.