The Portuguese-born scientist, who admits she has led a diverse life, has no regrets about leaving her home in South Africa and moving with her family to Dunedin, where she now produces a range of holistic skin-care products.
"I'm a great believer when the time is right, things happen. I allow myself time for things to happen the way they are supposed to, rather than being so stuck on a particular path," she said.
Born in Lisbon, Dr da Silva Tatley moved to South Africa when she was 18. Her father was an engineer who worked around the world.
She studied at the University of Cape Town, initially graduating with a BSc, then an honours degree, then a master's degree and finally a PhD in molecular and cell biology.
All along, she had peripheral interests outside the scientific sphere - "deep down it was almost like something was holding me back" - and it was important to fuse who she was as a scientist with being someone who enjoyed feeling good and enjoyed beautiful things, she said.
When she finished her PhD, she did a course in beauty therapy and, while she realised that being a beauty therapist was "slightly off" where she wanted to be, it proved to be a worthwhile exercise.
She was more interested in looking at the "fine print", discovering what the various creams and products contained, and that gave her the "eye and tools" to select ingredients that were beneficial for the skin.
Even though she had been working in such a sophisticated, technological environment, she wanted to create skin-care products that were simple, beneficial and hazard-free.
Dr da Silva Tatley started producing skin-care products in Cape Town mostly for herself, but occasionally people would ask her to make things for them, but it was very low key.
Then an opportunity arose for her to join a molecular and cell biology research group at the University of Otago.
She came for a visit in December 1998 and really liked the city. While it was "miserably cold", she thought it was an unusually odd day - "little did I know," she said, with a laugh.
She and her family moved to Dunedin in 1999. She described New Zealand as a fantastic place to live. The only down side of Dunedin was the "temperamental" weather.
She liked the fact that, within a short space of time, she could be out on Otago Peninsula or in the hills.
She became a reiki master in 2002, and she is also a reconnective healing practitioner, and her focus slowly moved from that of pure science to the business of science, and then to the merging of science and soul.
Dr da Silva Tatley was working fulltime when she decided to study part-time for a Master of Entrepreneurship degree at the University of Otago in 2007-08.
After preparing her family's evening meal, she would start work again at 9pm, continuing through to 4am or 5am, before having a couple of hours' sleep and being "on the go again" at 6am.
The business knowledge gained from completing that degree would prove invaluable in developing her skin-care company, Azurlis.
She was working as an enterprise manager at the university when she decided last year to concentrate fulltime on her skin-care products.
She initially rented space at the Centre for Innovation - a 10.5sq m windowless room - but when that got too small, she rented a cottage in Port Chalmers for her studio.
That was a "beautiful space" with views towards Sawyers Bay. Her product range grew from nine products to 49 -- "and I'm stopping there".
It was too costly to expand so fast and her focus was on promoting what she had. She sells online and through Otago Museum and a private aromatherapist also distributes her products.
On August 1, Dr da Silva Tatley is moving her operation into third-floor premises in the Imperial Building, overlooking Queens Gardens.
While sad not to have the view she had in Port Chalmers, she could still see the sea and the space was "fantastic".
Business was growing slowly - she would like it to grow faster - and she acknowledged her aim was "clearly below the radar". As a result, she recently attended a workshop to learn how to get into the Chinese market. Business was difficult whether it was small or big "so you might as well think big".
People occasionally asked her how she could go into business when the "economy was so bad", or told her people did not have money for "frivolous stuff" like skin-care products. It was at such times she took a deep breath.
"Just because times are bad, why shouldn't we have a little bit of frivolous time? When you feel good, no matter what happens around you, people will feel that and it ripples."
The name of her range Azurlis was derived from the gemstone lapis lazuli, which was "one of the most beautiful rocks".
She loves its colour - "it's such a striking stone" - and it is also associated with psychological wellbeing.
She was captivated by the use of lapis lazuli in the pyramids when she visited Egypt as a child.
While Dr da Silva Tatley loved her old scientific career, - "it's not that I wouldn't go back to it" - it was more that she had "moved on" from it.
