Louise Strajnic, 33, from Poundon near Bicester, quit her well-paid IT job in 2002 to work with the poverty relief charities Tearfund and Regenerate.

A year later, inspired by the experience, she sold possessions including the contents of her wardrobe to fund a year-long trip to India.

Mrs Strajnic said: "I sold everything and gave my car away. I guess I just cleared out and shipped out."

She had been working for the Metropolitan Police before she took an Alpha course – an introduction to Christianity – and decided she would follow her dream of helping people to improve their lives.

In Delhi she worked for a local church-run charity, teaching street children to read and write Hindi after learning the language herself.

She found examples of abject poverty, like a boy who slept in a rubbish tip because he feared being beaten. But nothing shocked her like the scale of the city's squalid trade in prostitution, which snares an estimated 200 women and children each day. So she decided to set up Atulya – a safe house to help women escape the sex trade.

With financial help from friends and family in the UK, she rented accommodation and within five months was helping six women, one of whom was pregnant and two who had HIV.

Backed by local social workers, she was able to help the women overcome their emotional and physical trauma and rehabilitate them back into society.

"Their stories are awful, but it's quite incredible when you meet them. You're just overwhelmed by what they've been through but they overcome it and are laughing and happy," Mrs Strajnic said.

On the Cosmopolitan award, for which she was nominated by her older brother, she said: "One reason I wanted to take this opportunity for publicity is to encourage other people if they have dreams. I'm just the most ordinary person in the world. If I can do it, anyone can do it."
Originally from Chichester in Sussex, Mrs Strajnic returned to the UK around a year and a half ago after nearly four years in India.

She plans to return to the Atulya shelter in coming months, and ultimately hopes to open a second shelter to offer specialist help to girls and younger women.

Cosmopolitan magazine will host the Ultimate Women of the Year awards ceremony in Banqueting House in Whitehall on November 5.

Judges on this year's panel include TV presenter Fearne Cotton, Prime Minister Gordon Brown's wife Sarah Brown, and singer Jamelia.