Corcoran says being labeled “stupid” best thing that ever happened to her

Barbara Corcoran, the founder of the Corcoran Group, revealed the best thing that has happened to her in her life wasn’t selling the brokerage that bears her name for $70 million. It was when “the nun from hell” told her at age eight that she was “stupid,” she told the Daily Beast.

“She labeled what was wrong with me, right then and there. She was a tough nun, and at eight years old, I believed her, and became the quietest kid in school,” Corcoran recalled.

But Corcoran‘s determination to prove she was not stupid, in combination with the introspective qualities that drove people to label her stupid, made her what she became, Corcoran said. Insecurity led her to meticulously prepare for everything in her life and to work twice as hard as everyone around her.

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Corcoran is now a contributor to the Today show on NBC, and an investor on the business-themed reality show “Shark Tank,” which will premiere Jan. 20 on ABC.

“Most great entrepreneurs I know are nothing like the other kids… they seem to go nowhere… until they get out in the real world,” Corcoran said. “Then they connect just fine.” [Daily Beast]