Naming Assistants in Your Query

Dear Rejecter,

A friend recently gave me a name of a friend who works as an assistant at a large literary agency. I would like to query this assistant. I don't know which agent she works for or if she works for more than one. Also, I queried one of the agents there over a month ago but did not get a reply. My question is, how should I phrase my query? Is it "correct" to query an assistant at all? I enjoy reading your blog and would appreciate your insight.

I would say it's not a good idea. First of all, assistants move around a lot, and you have no idea if she still works there. Second, a good assistant is looking for work to pass to the agent, so throwing around the assistant's name might make her feel good when she opens the mail, but it won't make her look at your work any differently.