Barbara Corcoran

Barbara Ann Corcoran (born March 10, 1949 in Edgewater, New Jersey) is an American businesswoman, investor, speaker, consultant, syndicated columnist, author, and television personality. As a television personality, she is a "Shark" investor on ABC's Shark Tank.

Biography

She graduated from St. Thomas Aquinas College with a degree in education in 1971. After graduation, she taught school for a year, but soon moved on working various jobs including a side job renting apartments in New York City. She wanted to be her own boss, and in 1973 co-founded a real estate business called The Corcoran Group with her boyfriend, who fronted a $1,000 loan (approximately $5,300, inflation-adjusted, 2014). In the mid-1970s she also began publishing The Corcoran Report on real estate data trends in New York City.

In 2001, Corcoran sold her business to NRT Incorporated for $66 million. She is also a "Shark" investor on ABC's Shark Tank, and is invested in more than a dozen businesses to date.