Nalayini’s interest in astronomy was sparked in her childhood by naked eye stargazing with her grandfather which included viewing a bright comet and total solar eclipse. This interest eventually led to her a Masters degree in astronomy from Swinburne University in Melbourne. She is a Fellow and Immediate Past President of the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand (RASNZ).

In the decades in between, she has pursued a professional career spanning many facets of the finance and banking industry and for the past 20+ years has been working for Vinstar, founded by her and her husband, an award-winning international economic advisory consultancy with work experience in over 35 countries. Nalayini is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Masters degree in Economics from the London Business School, University of London.

She has been an advocate of dark skies and she was instrumental in establishing Aotea/Great Barrier Island as a DarkSky International Dark Sky Sanctuary. She continues to assist numerous communities around New Zealand in their efforts to establish and/or operate themselves as accredited dark sky locations.

Nalayini has spoken on dark sky preservation issues at conferences in New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, Ethiopia and South Africa. With Professor John Hearnshaw, she co-chaired the 2019 Starlight Conference at Tekapo and was a member of the organising committee for the 2024 Starlight Conference at Tekapo.

She contributes astronomy articles to various New Zealand publications on an on-going basis. She has a collaborative working relationship with Elan Valley International Dark Sky Park in Wales, United Kingdom and Cosmic Campgrounds International Dark Sky Sanctuary, New Mexico, USA. She is the current President of Dark Sky International head quartered in Tucson, Arizona, USA.