“Shark Tank” star Barbara Corcoran resurfaced a copy of an email she wrote to the show’s producer after she had been turned down for the role.
The businesswoman posted a copy of the email, with the subject line “Still Swimming,” on Instagram on July 11, and listed three reasons why she should be reconsidered.
“Hereโs the letter I sent to get on ‘Shark Tank.’ The producer had already chosen someone else, but I wasnโt ready to give up,” Corcoran wrote in the caption of her post. “So I wrote him a list of reasons why I deserved a shot.”
“That email got me the seat and changed the course of my life. Seventeen years later, Iโm so glad I pressed send. Just a reminder, sometimes the door wonโt open until you knock louder,” she continued.
Corcoran, 76, started her email to the producer with: “Mark, I understand you’ve asked another girl to dance instead of me.”
“Although I appreciate being reserved as a fall-back, I’m much more accustomed to coming in first,” she wrote. “I think you should consider inviting both of us to LA for your try outs.”
Corcoran then listed three reasons why she thought she should still be considered for the role.
Her first reason: “I do my best when my back’s against the wall.”
“I love the heat of the competition as I’ve learned it brings out my best,” she added. “I’ve had all of my big successes on the heels of rejection, and frankly, it’s right up my alley.”
Corcoran listed people from her past who had doubted her or said she wouldn’t be successful, writing she considered rejection “a lucky charm.”
For her second reason, she told the producer that by having herself and the other woman vying for the role out in LA, they could see which personalities make the best combination for the show.
“I’ve found in building teams myself that the combination of personalities is always more important than the expertise or strengths of single individuals,” she said. “You may even drop a man for me because, believe it or not, I’m just as smart and mean as the next guy.”
Corcoran’s last reason was simple: “I’ve known from the get-go the shark role is a perfect fit for me.”
She said she had watched 37 episodes of the show, and that she thought she could rival the best sharks “in shrewdness and personality.”
“Everything I’ve done so far in the business and TV worlds has made me ready,” she said. “My style is different than the other sharks’ and your audience would fall in love with me.”
Corcoran closed her letter letting the producer know that she trusted his decision, while also letting him know she made a gutsy move herself.
“I’ve booked my flight for the 6th and hope to be on that plane,” she wrote. “Thanks, Barbara.”
This isn’t the first time Corcoran has shared the letter while reflecting on her journey to “Shark Tank.” She posted the note on her Instagram in August 2020, using it as a lesson for how she “turned a โnoโ into a โyes.โ”
Corcoran has been an investor on “Shark Tank” since 2009, and has appeared on all 15 seasons of the show.
Her fans expressed their love for the letter in the comments of her latest Instagram post.
“This email should be taught and studied in universities,” one commenter wrote.
“I am obsessed with you! THIS IS IS GOLD,” another wrote.
Another person said: “Legend. I did this when I got wait-listed for college, and I had all my favorite teachers sign in support. Offer was extended with increased financial aid. EVERYTHING is negotiable!”
