Barbara Ann Corcoran

 Barbara Ann Corcoran, born March 10, 1949, is an American businesswoman and investor. She is also a public speaker, consultant, columnist syndicated, speaker, author, and TV personality. In 2001, she founded The Corcoran Group in New York City. She sold the business to NRT for $66 millions. In the following months she left the business. One of the show's original "Shark" investors, Corcoran has appeared in every season of ABC's Shark Tank to date. In February of 2020, she had completed 53 deals. The most significant of these was a $350,000 investment in Coverplay at 40 percent. Corcoran was the second of 10 children born to an Irish-Catholic couple working in the middle class located in Edgewater, New Jersey. Florence Corcoran's mother was a homemaker. Her father, Edwin W. Corcoran Jr. was a bouncing from job to job throughout Corcoran's childhood. At times, the family depended on free food delivery from a friendly local grocery store. Corcoran remembers her father, who was a drunk at times too much, and behaved towards her mother with disrespect and condescendingly, particularly after he'd consumed several drinks. Corcoran struggled throughout her schooling, later learning that she had dyslexia. Corcoran attended a 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.