Barbara Ann Corcoran

 Barbara Ann Corcoran is an American businesswoman. She was the founder of The Corcoran Group, a real estate brokerage in New York City, which she sold to NRT for $66 million in 2001 and shortly after, she left the company. Corcoran is among ABC's first Shark Tank investors. Since her inception she has appeared in every 12 season of Shark Tank. Corcoran has been involved in 53 deals as of February of 2020. The most significant was a $350,000 investment that will pay for 40% of Coverplay. Corcoran was the second child of 10 kids born to an Irish Catholic couple of working class in Edgewater, New Jersey. Florence, her mother, was an exemplary homemaker. Edwin W. Corcoran Jr. was her father. He was always changing jobs during Corcoran's career. Her family was sometimes dependent on food deliveries from a friendly local grocer for free food. Corcoran claims that her father was drunk who treated her mother with disrespectful and sarcastic remarks. Corcoran struggled through her schooling and was eventually diagnosed with dyslexia. Corcoran was a student at a local Catholic elementary school, and then began high school at St. Cecilia High School in Englewood. Corcoran graduated from Leonia High School with a degree in English after failing several courses during her first year.