INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — There are people in this world who undeniably strive to make it a better place. Through the simple act of a smile, they light up a room. They make countless contributions to the community that surrounds them; they are role models for their peers; they inspire others without much effort or cognizance of their kindness.

Linda Offerdahl is one of those people.

She's a career woman, a philanthropist, a wife, a hands-on mother of three, a travel junkie, an entrepreneur, a trendsetter and a dreamer, and she's been an Incline Village resident for more than 24 years.

In the mid-1980s, Offerdahl and her husband, Richard, were living in Minnesota, plugging away at the corporate technology world when Richard decided he wanted to start a family. It didn't take much convincing before the couple left their metropolitan life to raise a family in the quite town of Incline.

“My husband and I are very different people — he wanted sunshine and I insisted upon snow, so Tahoe seemed like a natural choice that would suit both of us,” Offerdahl said during a busy holiday afternoon at her Village Center store, Dress the Part(y).

The Offerdahl clan quickly multiplied with three children born between 1990 and 93.

As a career-driven woman with a master in business administration, Offerdahl couldn't envision life as a stay-at-home mom, so she ventured into advertising sales for community publications like the Squaw Valley Times, the Tahoe Guide and SnowFest!.

However, Offerdahl is a woman who continues to reinvent herself, and after working several years as a marketing and sales manager, she opted for the title of “Career Mom.”

The unofficial occupation was strictly volunteer, but Offerdahl gave it 100 percent. It was a full-time position in which she dedicated herself to every parent organization out there from the PTA to Tahoe Family Solutions.

“I'm a connector — I like to put people together to create positive change and make things happen,” Offerdahl said without a hint of pretension. “When I see something that needs to be done, I have this innate desire to step in and do it.”

After a charitable day's work, the Offerdahls would always gather for family dinner where conversations with their children were engaging and progressive. Television during mealtime was never an option, but discussing goals and ambitions for the future was always fair game.

“The dinner table taught our kids to think and converse, and my husband played a huge role in helping them hone those skills,” Offerdahl said.

Offerdahl's unexpected change from corporate dignitary to charitable mom, combined with her husband's self-driven entrepreneurship career, provided the Offerdahls the opportunity to expand the family's worldview through foreign travel.

“We took the kids on a lot of trips when they were younger and taught them that the world is a big place even though they grew up in a small town,” Offerdahl said. “We wanted them to know they could be anybody they wanted to be and live anywhere they wanted to.”

That passion for travel and expedition resonated with the Offerdahl offspring as two have moved to the East Coast for undergraduate education, with the youngest to follow after high school graduation.

As the Offerdahl nest gradually began to empty, Linda once again decided it was time for a reinvention. In 2006, the business-savvy woman stumbled upon a new and unforeseen career — opening a costume store in Incline.

“When the business idea hit me, it took me totally by surprise. I wasn't looking for another project, but this project just grabbed me,” Offerdahl said. “When I look back, I've realized that all my life I loved to dress up.”

Offerdahl enlisted her husband to serve as her apprentice, and together they began to envision a business venture built on the foundation of charitable donations and the pure act of making customers smile.

In the past five years of operation, Dress the Part(y) has sponsored countless events, plays, parties, concerts, and Homecoming dances through costume donations and rentals.

The shop has also helped revive the somewhat-relinquished Village Center through events like Oktoberfest and through the implementation of the Incline Community Business Association, which Offerdahl took part in founding.

Party revelers can find an outfit or accessory for every occasion at the multi-costume store which supplies ball gowns, tuxedos, holiday attire, club-wear, retro gear, party supplies, balloons, Mardi Gras and New Year's decorations, Burning Man ensembles and a plethora of Halloween costumes.

“There are so many parts to dress and that's how the store turned out to be so big — it's probably twice as large as I originally thought it would be,” Offerdahl said with a grin. “Then again, I don't do anything small.”

Offerdahl doesn't collect a salary from the small business operation, and many items come from charitable donations or thrift stores, she said.

“It's not altruistic to me because it's satisfying a lot of my needs,” Offerdahl said. “If I can help someone out and make someone else happy, then I'm happy and it's a win-win.”

With the last of her children launching from the homestead in 2012, Offerdahl will continue to dream big. Forthcoming aspirations include cross-country skiing in Norway under the midnight sun, sightseeing around the ice sculptures of Russia, dog mushing in Alaska and sleeping in an ice hotel in Montreal. A trip to Hawaii is also in the cards — a compromise that may help coax her husband into her ice-cold travel plans.

“I'm going to be an empty nester next year and it's going to be hard to pin me down,” Offerdahl said. “My store has a life of its own and I have a great group of employees to help me run things.

“Incline will always be our home base, but the world is our playground.”