Barbara Corcoran

Barbara Ann Corcoran was born on March 10, 1949, in Edgewater, New Jersey, the second of ten children in a working-class family; she struggled in school with undiagnosed dyslexia and worked many jobs as a young person before entering real estate. After college she held a variety of positions and worked as a waitress and receptionist, which led to her first exposure to the real-estate business in New York City. In 1973, with a $1,000 loan from her then-boyfriend and business partner Ramone (Ray) Simone, Corcoran co-founded a real-estate firm that evolved into The Corcoran Group; after the partnership dissolved she rebuilt the firm under her own name and used unconventional marketing and promotion to grow the business in Manhattan’s competitive market. Her strategies included distinctive branding, data-driven market reports (The Corcoran Report), and creative sales tactics that helped expand the company’s agent base and listings. Over roughly 25 years Corcoran scaled the firm into a major New York real-estate brand — often described in profiles as a multibillion-dollar business with national recognition — and sold The Corcoran Group to NRT (a Realogy subsidiary) for $66 million in 2001, after which she exited day-to-day management and pursued media, investing and speaking opportunities. Following the sale she built a second career as an author (including Shark Tales), syndicated columnist, television personality and speaker, sharing lessons on entrepreneurship, sales, leadership and work-life balance. In television and investing she joined the cast of ABC’s Shark Tank as one of the “sharks,” investing in and mentoring startups; her Shark Tank investments and media appearances broadened her influence beyond real estate into startups, personal development and business coaching.