Barbara Ann Corcoran

 Barbara Ann Corcoran (born March 10, 1949) is an American businesswoman, investor and speaker. She is also a consultant, speaker and syndicated columnist. She is also an TV personality, author and author. In 2001, she founded The Corcoran Group in New York City. She later sold the company to NRT for $66 millions. Then, shortly after she resigned from the business. Corcoran was a participant in 12 of ABC's Shark Tank seasons. As of February 2020, she has made 53 deals for the show, with the biggest one being $350,000 to purchase 40 percent of Coverplay. Corcoran was born in Edgewater, New Jersey, the second of 10 children in a middle class Irish-Catholic family. Florence, her mother was a homemaker. Her father, Edwin W. Corcoran Jr. moved from job to job throughout Corcoran's childhood. Her family sometimes depended on free food delivery from a local, friendly grocery store. Corcoran recalls her father being an alcohol-dependent drunkard who often treated her mother with condescension and disrespect, particularly after having consumed alcohol. Corcoran was a struggle in school and later learned that she had dyslexia. Corcoran attended a Catholic elementary and then started high school in Englewood at St. Cecilia High School. Corcoran who was in the process of failing several courses in her first year of high school, was moved to Leonia High School. There she was awarded a D.