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Barbara Corcoran – The Queen of the Shark Tank

Barbara Corcoran

What a man can do, a woman can do it even better.  Evidence of this statement is one from a renowned American businesswoman, investor, speaker, consultant, columnist, author, and of course, a television personality called Barbara Corcoran.  Barbara Corcoran was born on March 10, 1949, in Edgewater, New Jersey.  She is the second of 10 children from a working-class Irish Catholic family.  Her mother was a homemaker, and her father moved from job to job throughout her childhood.  She had it hard growing up, and experienced her father treating her mother with disrespect, and was a drunkard.

Barbara attended a local Catholic elementary school but started her high school at St. Cecilia High School in Englewood.  She suffered dyslexia throughout her schooling days, and after several courses throughout her first year, she transferred to Leonia High School, where she graduated.  In 1971, Barbara Corcoran graduated from St. Thomas Aquinas College with a degree in education.  After graduating, Barbara taught school but not for long, as she wanted to do something for herself.

So, Barbara formed a company with her boyfriend, which she loaned $1000 to the startup.  After seven years, she  split from her boyfriend because he said that he would marry her secretary.  And after that, she moved on with her life to form her real estate company, The Corcoran Group.  A real estate brokerage in New York City which she later sold to NRT for $66 million, and in 2001 she exited the company.  She married her husband Bill Huggins, a retired Navy Captain who took part in the Gulf War and a former FBI agent.  They both married in 1988, gave birth to their son, Tom, and adopted a daughter named Kate.

Barbara was based in New York City, where she also began publishing The Corcoran Report, a newsletter covering real estate.  Later, Corcoran was announced as a contestant for season 25 of Dancing with the Stars, where she partnered with Keo Motsepe.  She is also one of the show’s original “Shark” investors.  She appeared in all 12 seasons of ABC’s Shark Tank to date.  So far, she has made 53 deals on the show, being the biggest and largest on the show with a $350,000 investment for a 40% cover play.  She is said to be worth about $80 million.

Barbara is the author of Shark Tales of HOW I TURNED $1000 INTO A BILLION DOLLAR BUSINESS:  A book she wrote to inspire people for anyone who is looking at starting a business.  It contains her life story of how she could overcome her life struggles and turn them from dust to diamonds, and today, it’s a whole new story on another level.  We know her to offer no-nonsense wisdom to entrepreneurs on Shark Tank.  They embedded everything about Barbara Corcoran in the book to give a down-to-earth feel when you read it.  Life is good and precious when you make the best out of it.  It is not a place for the weak nor the faint in heart.  If you feel you are in distress, look at Barbara Corcoran, emulate her ways of life, find your stand, and make life the best it can be.