Imagine someone who scored straight D’s in her college becoming one of the successful entrepreneurs in the country. Barbara Corcoran’s story is truly inspiring for millions of people who struggle to place their name in the business world. Barbara Ann Corcoran was born on March 10, 1949, in Edgewater, New Jersey in the United States. Corcoran has proved herself as an investor, businesswoman, television personality, author, columnist, speaker, and consultant. She is the founder and CEO of The Corcoran Group. She is also one of the original “sharks” in ABC’s Shark Tank.
Net Worth
Barbara knows the game well and she has always scaled the heights with her strong will and hard work. She started her business with a loan of $1000. Soon her business grew into an $80 million empire. As of 2021, Barbara Corcoran has an approximate net worth of $100 million. Her sources of income are from her television shows, businesses, sales of her books, and her work as a columnist. Barbara has invested in more than twenty businesses now.
Shark Tank
Shark Tank is an American business reality television series that helps new entrepreneurs to find investors and great business deals. It is aired on ABC and has won over four Emmy awards over time. Barbara Corcoran was one of the original shark investors of the show. She was the third shark joined in the show after other investors like Mark Cuban and Robert Herjavec. Barbara has invested in so many companies through Shark Tank and made their dreams come true. She is also the executive producer of the show.
House
Barbara owns a $3.5 million worth mansion which is around 2,700 square feet on Park Avenue. She currently lives in Manhattan with her husband and children. She also has a $10 million worthy penthouse on Fifth Avenue. Her house tour videos and photos made the fans’ jaw drop.
Education and Early life
Barbara was born in a working-class family in New Jersey. She had 9 siblings and her childhood was in poverty. Her father, Edwin W. Corcoran Jr., worked several jobs to support the family and her mother was a housewife. It was difficult for her parents to raise 10 kids. They sometimes relied on free food given by their local grocer. Barbara’s father drank too much and often gave her mother a hard time. This unpleasant childhood added fuel to her will to become successful and financially stable.
Barbara also had a reading disorder or dyslexia. She struggled to keep up with her classmates in lessons. Her marks were always lower than others. She was bullied by her classmates because of her dyslexia. Her teachers called her a dumb and good-for-nothing kid. She did her elementary education in a catholic school. Later she attended the catholic high school in Englewood, St. Cecilia High School. She was transferred to Leonia High School. Barbara graduated from Leonia High School but her grades were not impressive. She graduated with a straight D on her mark list. She joined St. Thomas Aquinas College (STAC) in Sparkill for her higher studies. She worked hard in college and gave a little bit better performance than in high school. Her degree was in education and Barbara graduated from St. Thomas Aquinas College in 1971.
Even though her school years weren’t pleasant. She made her bad experiences as an inspiration to work harder in the future.
Career Journey
Her first career option was teaching as her degree was in education. But she wasn’t content with the job. Barbara taught in a school for one year and resigned from her job. She worked several jobs after that but nothing made her successful. After failing in 20 jobs, a normal person would have been frustrated and drained out. But Barbara wasn’t ready to give up on her goals. Her next job became successful and made her one of the richest women in America. In 1973, Barbara and her then-boyfriend founded The Corcoran-Simonè company together. Her experiences from working in different jobs came to use. Their capital money was from a $1000 loan. But after seven years, her boyfriend wanted to marry her secretary. Thus their relationship ended on an unhappy note. After she split up from her boyfriend their company was also divided. Barbara became her boss and started her own company, The Corcoran Group. She also started publishing a newsletter called The Corcoran Report. It covered all the real estate news and trends in New York City. Barbara sold her business for $66 million to a real estate brokerage company NRT LLC in 2001.
“My biggest challenge in business was not my competition. It was the tape inside my head keeping me back” – Barbara Corcoran.
Barbara is also famous through her television appearances. She participated in the dance competition series Dancing with the Stars in 2017. Her partner in the show was Keo Motsepe but the couple was eliminated soon. She has also appeared in the American comedy television series Grace and Frankie in 2020. She appeared as herself in the show.
Barbara Corcoran is also an author. She has written books like If You Don’t Have Big Breasts, Put Ribbons On Your Pigtails: And Other Lessons I Learned From My Mom, Nextville: Amazing Places to Live Your Life, and Shark Tales: How I Turned $1,000 into a Billion Dollar Business.
Husband and Children
Barbara married Bill Higgins in 1988. He was a former FBI agent and also a Navy Captain. Barbara got pregnant through in vitro fertilization, the egg was donated by Florence, her sister as Barbara couldn’t have a natural pregnancy. She gave birth to her elder son Tom in 1994. Barbara and Bill also adopted a daughter later. Her name is Kate.
Barbara made a mock funeral for her on her 70th birthday in 2019. She loves to do adventure sports like skiing and also loves going to beaches in summer. She believes that growing up poor was her biggest motivation to work harder on her goals.
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