Meet Tamron Hall: former co-host of NBC’s “Today" show, barista and now an Emmy Award-winning talk show host.

While many people recognize her from her ABC talk show, she’s so much more than that. She’s an activist, author, mother and proud resident of Manhattan’s west side — which is why she met up with Jamie Stelter at The Empire Diner at West 22nd Street and 10th Avenue for this week’s episode of “Extra Shot.”

“It's a special place for me because my son, I marked so many things by his age, and I remember when I was taking him here in a stroller. I remember when he was old enough to sit in the booth. I remember now when he was old enough to decide what table he wanted,” Hall said of the diner.

During the conversation, Hall began reflecting on her latest novel, “Watch Where They Hide,” and delved into the main character of Jordan Manning, a protagonist strikingly reminiscent of herself — a Black woman navigating the challenges of a career in television journalism.

“I wanted her to be this almost vigilante in many ways. And she is in that she crosses a lot of lines. She puts herself in dangerous situations,” Hall said. “And you're wondering, ‘What are you thinking? You're a reporter who wants to be an anchor.’ But at the heart of it, she is a person who is fighting for what's right while she can't decide what's right for her own life.”

Hall’s own journey reflects that of Manning’s deeply.

“It's validating. I'm a woman over 50. I'm a woman who lost her dream job at 48,” she said, speaking about her time on the “Today" show, which ended suddenly in 2017. “One title does not define you. You define you.”

Her self-titled talk show on ABC now allows her to continue the path she started at NBC, but she believes it exposes her to a much larger audience.

“What I love about having the show here is that while it has that beat of New York… that truly people from around the world are in my audience every day,” Hall said.

And it’s that audience that has helped turn Hall’s show into a rare daytime TV success story.

But she doesn’t let any of it get to her head. She is still a New Yorker, and like all of us, she has her own gripes with the city.

In her conversation with Stelter, she remembers one particular gripe in which she was being honored at a Housing Works gala. She’d worked with them for years and donates much of her clothing there. Hall said she felt like Sarah Jessica Parker in a gorgeous white dress outside her apartment in Tribeca — but all anyone notices in the photo? The trash.

But Hall said she still loves it here.

“I'll tell you, I don't think I've ever shared this with anyone. And it makes me a little misty-eyed. When we are driving back in from our house on Long Island, my son, once the Alicia Keys’ ‘Empire State of Mind’ came on, and I don't know how old he was, he started like, ‘Mommy, play the New York song.’ And so now whenever we come back home, I say, ‘You ready?’ And he's like, ‘Mommy, play the New York song,’” Hall said.

“And it's like singing it at the top of our lungs, and you're coming over the city and you see it. And I recognize, again, when you love something, you see it, warts and all. And I know that we live a great life, and I'm very lucky to be from this small town working in this city,” said Hall.

When Stelter noted that she felt the world rallied around her following her sudden departure from the “Today" show, Hall agrees, saying, “I feel like New York did… and once you've won New York, you've won the world.”