Barbara Ann Corcoran (born March 10, 1949) is an American businesswoman, investor, speaker, consultant, syndicated columnist, author, and television personality. She founded The Corcoran Group, a real estate brokerage in New York City, that she sold to NRT for $66 million in 2001. She is now a television personality as a "Shark" investor on ABC's Shark Tank, a position she has held for 9 seasons. As of February 2020, she has made 53 deals on the show, the largest being a $350,000 investment for 40% of Coverplay.
Corcoran is a columnist for More, The Daily Review, and Redbook. She has written several books, and has been featured on Larry King Live, NBC's Today show, hosts The Millionaire Broker with Barbara Corcoran on CNBC, writes a weekly column in the New York Daily News, and is a speaker and consultant.
Corcoran was born in Edgewater, New Jersey, to an Irish-Catholic family. She is the second of 10 children. She attended a local Catholic elementary school and then attended St. Cecilia High School in Englewood for her freshman year before flunking out of several courses and transferring to Leonia High School.