Barbara Ann Corcoran

 Barbara Ann Corcoran was a businesswoman, investor and speaker from the United American. The Corcoran Group was a New York City real estate brokerage that she started. NRT purchased it for $66million in 2001. Corcoran soon exited the company. Corcoran was among the first Shark Tank investors. She has appeared in every season of ABC's Shark Tank. As of February 2020, she has made 53 deals with the show, with the most significant being a $350,000 investment for 40 percent of Coverplay. Corcoran was born in Edgewater (New Jersey) as the second of ten children in an Irish-Catholic working class family. Florence was her mother, who was an errand-taker. Edwin W. Corcoran Jr. was her father. He was a mover from one job to the next during Corcoran’s childhood. Her family sometimes relied upon free food delivery from a friendly local grocery store. Corcoran recalls that her father was an alcohol-dependent drunkard who often treated her mother with contempt and disrespect, particularly after he had been drinking. Corcoran struggled at school, and eventually discovered that she had dyslexia. Corcoran entered high school at St. Cecilia High School Englewood following her time at an Catholic primary school. After failing several courses in her freshman year, Corcoran transferred to Leonia High School and was a D-student when she graduated.