Barbara Ann Corcoran

 Barbara Ann Corcoran (born March 10, 1949) is an American businesswoman investor, speaker, consultant, syndicated columnist, television host, and author. The Corcoran Group was a New York City real estate brokerage that she started. NRT purchased it for $66million in 2001. Corcoran eventually left the company. Corcoran has participated in 12 episodes of ABC's Shark Tank seasons. In February of 2020, she's signed 53 deals for the show, the largest being a $350,000 investment for 40 percent of Coverplay. Corcoran was born in Edgewater (New Jersey) as the second of ten children from a working-class Irish Catholic family. Florence Corcoran was Florence's mom and was a homemaker. Edwin W. Corcoran Jr. her father was a skilled worker throughout Corcoran's childhood. Her family was sometimes dependent on the food provided by a friendly local grocer for free food. Corcoran remembers her father, one who would drink too much, and treated her mother with disrespect and condescendingly, particularly after he'd had several drinks. Corcoran struggled in school, and was later told that she was dyslexic. Corcoran was educated in an Catholic elementary school and then enrolled in high school in Englewood at St. Cecilia High School. Corcoran completed her studies at Leonia High School with a degree in English after having failed several classes during her first year of high school.