Barbara Ann Corcoran

 Barbara Ann Corcoran, born March 10, 1949, is an American businesswoman and investor. She is also a public speaker and consultant, a columnist syndicated, speaker writer, author and television show host. She founded The Corcoran Group, a real estate brokerage in New York City, which she sold to NRT for $66 million in 2001. She shortly after, she left the company. Corcoran was one of the first Shark Tank investors. She has appeared on every season of ABC's Shark Tank. Since February of 2020, she had signed 53 deals with the show, with the biggest one being $350,000 to purchase 40% of Coverplay. Corcoran was the second of a family of 10 kids born to a working class Irish-Catholic couple in Edgewater, New Jersey. [8] Her mother, Florence, was a homemaker. Edwin W. Corcoran Jr. was her father. He was a mover from one job to another throughout Corcoran’s childhood. At times, the family relied upon free food delivery from a local, friendly grocery store. Corcoran says her father was a drunk who was rude to her mother and condescension. Corcoran was struggling in school, and she was later told that she had dyslexia. Corcoran attended a Catholic primary school within her neighborhood and began the high school year at St. Cecilia High School, Englewood. Corcoran completed her studies at Leonia High School with a degree in English after failing several courses during her first year of high school.