Growing up and beginnings

Barbara Corcoran was born on March 23, 1949 in New Jersey, United States, and was the second of ten children in a low-income family. Her father had intermittent jobs and often lost them, making the family's financial situation unstable. Despite the poverty, Barbara described her childhood as full of love and support from her mother who managed the household brilliantly. Her school struggles started at an early age due to dyslexia (dyslexia), which made her suffer at school and feel less than her classmates. But she was always ambitious and had a strong character and a spirit of challenge.

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From waitress to businesswoman

After graduating from university with a modest degree, Barbara worked in several jobs, the most prominent of which was a waitress in a restaurant. There, she got to know her boyfriend at the time, who offered her to participate in a real estate project with her. She borrowed $1,000 from him and used it to set up her small real estate company in New York in the 1970s, later called The Corcoran Group.

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The beginning of the real launch

Barbara started handing out real estate flyers manually, and knew how to attract attention with her creative approach to marketing. In 1973, she published the first report on the New York real estate market, which received great attention. She relied on innovation in presenting and providing advice to customers in a simple and transparent manner, making her company stand out among major competitors.

But at one point, she broke up with her partner and her former boyfriend, and he told her she “wouldn't make it without him,” which made her even more determined to prove the opposite.

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The peak of success

Over the next decades, her company grew to be one of the largest real estate brokerage firms in New York. In 2001, The Corcoran Group was sold to NRT Incorporated for $66 million.

After the sale, Barbara did not retire, but continued her career and participated in the Shark Tank program since its launch in 2009, where she became one of its most prominent investors. It has invested in dozens of small projects and has always supported entrepreneurs with similar backgrounds — people who started from scratch.

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Lessons from her story

  • Persistence and challenge: despite her educational problems, she has not stopped dreaming.
  • Intelligence in marketing: She was one of the first to use market reports as a tool of attraction.
  • The power of turning rejection into motivation: she made her separation from her partner a starting point rather than a retreat.
  • Investing in others: She believes that the best investment is in people and not only in ideas.

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