Lifestyle

Toast of the taxi

(Justin Goldberg)

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Amy Palmer spent just three months on the journalistic prowl for “MSNBC Investigates,” but it was long enough for her to fall in love with telling women’s stories. The year was 2000, and the young segment producer’s assignments ranged from an interview with Anna Nicole Smith to a documentary on the business of gentlemen’s clubs.

“That’s where I realized I could connect with women on a very visceral level,” the 30-something tells The Post, adding that the gig introduced her to women from all over the country and all walks of life. “I was able to draw things out of them, and it sparked something in me.”

That “something” was a drive to be in front of the camera, sharing women’s stories with a global audience. Palmer’s ambition was realized in 2009 with the launch of her online network, PowerwomenTV. Aimed at educating and inspiring generation X, Y and Millennial women, in March the network expanded beyond the Web, with segments airing on Taxi TV in New York City cabs. A soft online network relaunch is slated for June 10.

PowerwomenTV is known for interviews with female power players like Skinnygirl founder Bethenny Frankel. And when the network’s new lineup of programming — which includes shows on everything from fashion to wealth management — debuts, real-estate mogul Barbara Corcoran and actress Eva Longoria are just a couple of the leading ladies slated to appear.

After graduating from Boston University, Palmer, a Long Island native, honed her journalism chops at MTV and MSNBC and was on the fast track to the upper echelons of television production. But in 2004 she took a chance — and a pay cut — to pursue on-air reporting, joining Hamptons-based lifestyle network Plum TV as a host. Palmer resisted the lure of a fancy title again when she came back to the city a year later, turning down a booking job with CNN’s “Showbiz Tonight” to work for NYC TV.

Luckily, it proved to be a smart move.

While at the station in 2005, Palmer created and hosted “New York 360°,” a local show covering New York City culture and entertainment. “I thought it would last for about four episodes, and it lasted 3 1/2 years,” Palmer recalls of the Emmy-nominated program. “It really taught me how to build a show.”

It also exposed the budding entrepreneur to some of Gotham’s most powerful and influential women. “I was wondering why their stories weren’t being told,” Palmer recalls. “That’s when I decided to create PowerwomenTV online.”

Palmer funded her self-described “passion project” with her own savings, earned through appearances on programs like the “Today” show and “New York Live,” where she dished on pop culture and entertainment. “I gave up holidays, I gave up weekends, I gave up summer days,” Palmer says of doing television spots to build her network.

Her long list of industry contacts helped her find freelance cameramen and a Web designer — but Palmer says building the network was far from glamorous.

“The reality of being an entrepreneur is that it’s the hardest thing you’ll ever do in your life,” Palmer notes. Feeling as though her 24/7 lifestyle was too one-dimensional — and believing in her vision when other networks didn’t — were other challenges.

Within months of the first show hitting the Web, however, women from as far as the Middle East e-mailed Palmer, praising her work.

Last summer, Palmer secured an investor, giving her the capital she needed to expand the network’s offerings. Filmed at locations all over New York City, the programs were a natural fit for Taxi TV.

“When you’re an entrepreneur and you think about your vision for a company, create it for where it’s going,” she advises. “In 2008, when I was self-funding and didn’t have any access to Taxi TV, I specifically produced the Web series for Taxi TV.” Five years later she met with its executives, and her programs were added to its lineup, appearing in 6,800 cabs.

Today, PowerwomenTV has 14 shows in production, among them a roundtable program where guests gather to discuss women’s issues.

With Web syndication partners in place, Palmer has her sights set on network TV.

“I feel like there’s a huge gap in the marketplace for women’s programming,” she says. “[Networks] should be pushing smart, successful, deep-thinking women. Those are the women that the younger generation should be looking at.”

With more and more women becoming the breadwinners of their families and pursuing entrepreneurial interests, Palmer says it’s important they can actually see others having honest discussions about navigating work and life.

“We were told that we could do everything and have everything, but no one told us how to get there,” she says. “We need to show the blueprint a little more clearly.”