Barbara Ann Corcoran

 Barbara Ann Corcoran (born March 10, 1949) is an American businesswoman, investor speaking, consultant writer, syndicated columnist, author, and television personality. The Corcoran Group is a New York City-based real estate brokerage. In 2001, it was sold to NRT at $66 million. Corcoran resigned from the company shortly after. Corcoran, one of ABC's original Shark investors has been part of every episode of Shark Tank. By February 2020, she had closed 53 deals. One of them was a $350,000 investment for Coverplay at 40 percent. Corcoran was born in Edgewater (New Jersey) as the second child of ten in an Irish-Catholic working class family. Florence was her mother, who was a homemaker. Edwin W. Corcoran Jr. was her father. He was constantly moving from one job to the next during Corcoran’s childhood. Her family frequently relied on free food deliveries from a local grocery store. Corcoran remembers her father as a man who occasionally consumed too much alcohol and treated her mother with disrespect and condescension, particularly when he was drinking. Corcoran struggled through her schooling, later learning that she was dyslexic. Corcoran went to an Catholic elementary school in her area and began the high school year at St. Cecilia High School, Englewood. Corcoran was proficient in several classes during her first year. She transferred to Leonia High School and graduated with a grade of D.