Tributes have been paid to a charity founder who “made an impact on everyone she met”.

Tasleen Carstairs died on May 8 after being diagnosed with cancer at the end of last year.

The 49-year-old Argus Achievement Award finalist and Local Hero Award winner founded Forward Facing in 2004 to help improve people’s confidence and self esteem.

Tasleen’s friend and trustee of the charity Michael Beasley said: “She strove to make a difference to other people’s lives in everything that she did and Forward Facing was a vehicle for that.”

Trained professional hair and make-up artist Tasleen abandoned her successful career in film, TV and theatre to change the lives of seriously ill children and adults struggling with their confidence.

She used her training to help people with disfigurements, scars or burns, giving them the confidence to face the world again, and harnessed her passion and enthusiasm to put on Memory Making Days in Brighton Dome for terminally ill young children.

The charity has worked with dozens of schools, hospitals, hospices, charities and other institutions around Sussex, Kent and London providing workshops and projects that use make-up and costume to bring a sense of self and fun back into people’s lives.

She told The Argus in July 2013: “I just feel passionate about what I do. It’s my dream job.”

Mr Beasley said: “She was so unassuming. She just wanted to help people and she helped a vast cross section of people, from women with chronic illnesses, children with life-limiting illnesses, young people from underprivileged backgrounds and people from ethnic minorities who were really struggling.

“She was not judgemental, she just had a huge heart and she really identified with people from a variety of backgrounds through her own experiences.

“Every person that she met she made an impact on, especially through Forward Facing. Every workshop was carefully crafted so everyone could get the most out of it and the best out of themselves.

“She inspired confidence in a lot of people.”