Emailing a fund manager

I messaged a few "contacts" on here for some advice on this and haven't received any responses so I'll try here. I've picked up on a few things from here and other websites on emailing but my situation is somewhat unique in that I have a small foot in the door as he's a distant family friend.

Not revealing too much, this guy worked for Barclays Global Investors before they were bought by BlackRock, and for a short stint after. He then was hired as a VP for Goldman in Distressed Investing for a year before starting his own hedge fund, presumably still investing in distressed debt. My mom knows him, told him my story, and he was kind enough to forward her his contact info.

I reveal his stats to contrast with myself.... I'm a typical non-target kid on his networking journey having some good success with cold emailing/calling. I'll skip the rest on that. All I'm really looking for is some advice on how to keep a level head conversing with someone this experienced. I have zero investing experience, just began following the markets, and am more interested in private equity at the moment than vulture funds, but his field SEEMS to be similar from what I've picked up on.

Obviously I know to keep it real and be honest, no bluffing about my experiences or walking through models I have no clue about, but I am confident that I can make it in this "arena" and it'd just be nice to hear someone else's view. To the point, anyone have any experience with this and does anyone have advice on this industry/some things to keep in mind while writing my first email to him? I have a TON of questions, but overall my end goal is just to have a nice contact and see what happens from there. Thanks