Barbara Ann Corcoran

 Barbara Ann Corcoran (born March 10 1949) is an American businesswoman, investor, speaker, consultant writer, syndicated columnist, author, and television personality. The Corcoran Group, an NYC real estate brokerage was established by Corcoran. NRT bought it in 2001 for $66 million. Corcoran then exited the company. Corcoran was among the original Shark Tank investors. She was a regular on every episode of ABC's Shark Tank. As of February 2020 she had signed 53 deals. One of them was a purchase of $350,000 in Coverplay at 40 percent. Corcoran was born in Edgewater, New Jersey, the second child of 10 from a working class Irish Catholic family.  Her mother, Florence, was a household worker. Edwin W. Corcoran Jr. was her father. He was constantly changing jobs throughout Corcoran's career. Sometimes, her family depended on food delivery for free from a friendly local grocery store. Corcoran recalls her father as a man who occasionally was a drinker and was rude to her mother and sneer, especially when he was drinking. Corcoran struggled with her education and was diagnosed with dyslexia. Corcoran was a student at an Catholic primary school within her neighborhood and started the high school year at St. Cecilia High School, Englewood. Corcoran dropped a few classes during her first year and transferred to Leonia High School where she was a D student.