Networking email with assistant

I want to reach out to an alum at a firm I am applying to, though I only have their assistant's email. I was wondering if it would be odd to reach out to the assistant about scheduling a phone call with the alum for me and use a similar template as I normally would for cold-emailing people (just using the third person referencing the alum instead of 'you'). Would it be better to introduce myself to the assistant and then ask them for the alum's email so I could email them directly? Any input is appreciated. Thanks